Police are investigating if a 14-year-old boy wearing an army cadet uniform who allegedly stabbed a 22-year-old student at the University of Sydney entrance on Tuesday morning has extremist links.
The teenager allegedly walked up to the man and stabbed him from behind in the neck with a kitchen knife near the university’s Parramatta Road entrance.
He allegedly fled the scene on a nearby bus. Concerned for the teen’s welfare, a member of the public then helped the boy to the nearby Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he is being treated for cuts to the hand and is undergoing a mental health assessment.
While police are investigating potential extremist links, including white supremacy, they have not identified a specific ideology.
“What ideology may be related is unknown, but I would say is likely to be categorised as mixed and unclear, it’s not religiously motivated,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton told reporters at a joint press conference with the Australian Federal Police on Tuesday.
“It is known as a salad bar of ideologies. A lot of these vulnerable people, they’re not linked into one particular ideology,” said Walton.
Parts of the campus were blocked off by police. Credit: Janie Barrett
The teen, who lives in Sydney’s inner west, was known to police and “other government agencies”, said Walton.
Police do not have evidence that the boy was acting with a network. The boy was not connected to the army or cadets, Walton said.
Source Agencies
