Sydney shooting rampage

Man confronted perpetrator: “He had empty eyes”

Damien Guerot (right) confronted the knife-wielding attacker armed with a bollard.(Bild: X/Matt Vandenberg)

Six people were killed by a knife attacker in a Sydney shopping center on Saturday, twelve others were injured. The fact that the rampage did not claim more victims is thanks to heroes and heroines who stopped the attacker. One of them is the "bollard man": a video of his intervention went viral.

The video, which has been widely shared on social media, shows a man with a bollard in his hands confronting the knife attacker. The short clip shows the perpetrator trying to climb the stationary escalator, but stopping in the face of the determined-looking man (see X-Post below).

Construction workers intervened
He is the Frenchman Damien Guerot. The construction worker and his colleague Silas Despreaux were on their way to the fitness center in the Westfield shopping center when the attacker stabbed them. They acted quickly.

"We wanted to stop him"
"We saw the man coming towards us and took off running," Guerot told Australian broadcaster "Channel 7". The two men grabbed bollards, turned around and followed the attacker. "We wanted to stop him," said the man. The confrontation took place on the escalator. "His eyes were blank. He wasn't really there," said Guerot, describing the man who ran amok. According to the police, he was 40-year-old Joel Cauchi. He was known to the authorities and suffered from a mental illness.

Damien Guerot (right), armed with a bollard, confronted the knife-wielding attacker.(Bild: X/Matt Vandenberg)

Frenchmen Guerot (left) and Despreaux are in Australia on work visas. There are already calls for them to be granted citizenship.(Bild: kameraOne)

Policewoman shoots perpetrator
Cauchi finally turned around, the two Frenchmen followed him and threw the bollards at him, but did not hit him. Policewoman Amy Scotts was also hot on the attacker's heels. When he tried to attack her with his knife, Scotts shot the perpetrator. "She's the real hero. She got the job done. We just did what we did, but nothing to be a real hero," emphasizes Guerot.

In any case, the two Frenchmen probably saved lives with their intervention. They are also celebrated as heroes.