| 2024 Wakeley church stabbing | |
|---|---|
 Rioters on Welcome Street following the stabbing, 16 April 2024 at 12:12 am | |
 Location of Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley | |
| Location | Wakeley, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Coordinates | 33°52′22″S 150°54′22″E / 33.8728°S 150.9062°E |
| Date | 15 April 2024 7:15 pm[1] (AEST; UTC+10:00) |
Attack type | Stabbing |
| Weapon | Flick knife |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 4 (including the perpetrator) |
| Motive | Islamist extremism |
| Accused | Unnamed 16-year-old male |
On 15 April 2024, at approximately 7:15 pm local time, a knife attack took place at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. During a live-streamed sermon, the attacker walked up to the pulpit, first stabbing bishop Mari Emmanuel, resulting in permanent vision loss in Emmanuel's right eye, before stabbing a priest and injuring another churchgoer.[2] While no one was killed, this attack was the second stabbing incident to have taken place in Sydney in three days, following the deadly mass stabbing at Bondi Junction.
The New South Wales Police Force have arrested a 16-year-old male with a "long history of behaviour consistent with a mental illness or intellectual disability"[3] over the attack. They have classified the stabbing as a terrorist attack that was "religiously or ideologically" motivated,[4][3] but have not released the name of the suspect. Wakeley is home to many Christians belonging to the Assyrian diaspora, including Emmanuel himself.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
newswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Australian Associated Press (19 April 2024). "Teenager accused of Sydney church stabbing has history of behaviour consistent with mental illness, court hears". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
- ^ Ganko, Josefine; McSweeney, Jessica (15 April 2024). "Sydney stabbings live updates: Wakeley church attack declared terrorist event just days after Bondi Junction tragedy". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 26 August 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024.