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‘Bollardman’ has been named in the media as Silas Despreaux, from Ukraine. He apparently stopped the perpetrator from going up the escalator where there is a children’s play area. An absolute hero

But he isn't profiting from their deaths. He is profiting from being identified world wide as a mass murderer. That is not an insignificant trauma to him. He deserves every cent he is awarded.

The Christchurch shooter went to 2 mosques and murdered 51 men, women and children. With a gun. He also shot at and wounded dozens more. I am not a Liberal supporter. Thank you John Howard (and everyone) for stong gun laws in Australia. If this man had a gun we would be looking at potentially dozens if not hundreds of people dead and wounded. We live in Sydney and I am in total shock today. Total shock. I have to catch a train to work tomorrow and just go about my usual day and pretend that nothing has changed but it has changed everything. I am scared. I am heartbroken for all the victims. I am angry that he has murdered and injured women and men and stabbed a baby !! I am angry that he was "known to the police". I am angry that MH is so underfunded and services and resources have been reduced. I know what it is like to knock on the public MH door to be told "go private, we cannot take your daughter in". We are all hurt and dazed here.

I’m struggling to have any sympathy for anyone that exists in a community that will give a police officers a broken jaw, chipped tooth, and broken knee, with bricks and fence palings stolen from nearby houses, just for doing their job, trying to HELP. They can all have a cage fight and sort themselves out for all I care right now. That’s appalling.

Thank you GP just called, my levels yesterday were actually 4800, I'd misremembered, and this morning are up to 5900 which she said is 'reassuring' and 'on track' - so will see what tomorrow's bloods bring

I don't think he is profiting from the deaths. I think he's seeking compensation for his experience and trauma of being widely and publicly named a murderer and the consequences of that. Good on him for launching action, 7 should be ashamed.

His parents are showing a great deal of insight. I really feel for them. This must be a horrific time for them.

Posting tonight cause I think EB needs it. My gorgeous (tomorrow) Nine month old.

Thank you so much everyone, the kind words and positive stories have really helped I appreciate it so much. Back to the clinic this morning, to a different shared care GP - who I also really liked, am very pleased that if all goes well I've found a couple of lovely doctors quite literally around the corner from home - and HCG was looking promising Levels were ~4500 which, counting back to my original test from 2 weeks ago, is doubling every 48 hours. Bloods again this morning and tomorrow to monitor, hopefully it keeps doubling. I've been torn between being pragmatic and optimistic but when I asked the GP this morning if it was hopeless she said 'definitely not', just a waiting game - so trying to get back to that cheerful state of mooning over names/gender and imagining a happy little bub safely in arms Hold on little one!

TW: possible pregnancy loss -- Ugh, these first few weeks are such a wild ride. Have felt totally consumed by anxiety; no major symptoms and can't shake the feeling that I'll miscarry, but trying to catch the thoughts and think positively as much as I can. I was meant to have my first antenatal visit tomorrow with the shared care GP tomorrow, but woke this morning with a little bit of pink spotting. GP (who I really liked, yay) fit me in and sent me for bloods and a dating scan. Going by the first date of my last period - though a little tricky as my last cycle was unusually long, so not sure what my 'average' cycle is right now - I should be 6w6d today. Ultrasound showed a 7mm gestational sac, with a yolk sac, but no fetal pole or heartbeat. HCG isn't back yet; will find out tomorrow. So either my dates are off/I ovulated late and I'm not as far along as I thought, or it's not viable. Both GP and ultrasound tech said it's an ambiguous 'too early to tell' stage, so depending on HCG results, will follow up with another scan in 10-14 days. Torn between wanting to stay hopeful - no further spotting since this morning, and I did a ClearBlue digital tonight and it showed as "pregnant 3+ weeks" compared to last week's "pregnant 2-3 weeks" - or resigning myself to a negative outcome, and feeling silly for letting myself be excited in the first place. Trying to distract myself with some work but so unfocused and of course Googling frantically. Sigh. Hold on, little pod

My coworker was at the centre at the time and came very close to the attacker. She came back to work yesterday and I had lunch with her today. She described the attacker as being at the bottom of the escalator and she was coming down. She describes how she froze and her friend pulled her back up the escalator. She tripped and has grazes all over her legs. She saw one of the deceased still holding onto her shopping bags. She ended up in a locked storeroom at Harvey Norman. It is just gut wrenching to hear her recount it. She looks vacant.

Baby Girl out of ICU and on a ward

I don't want to hear anything from any Americans on this topic. They have relinquished the right to a rational opinion. Their idea of normal is so skewed it is dystopian.

Yes many of us parents who are raising children with mental illness have vast insight. It’s just that when we present to emergency departments to get help, we are given the bare minimum. And if you are trying to act preventatively, good luck. Wait lists, exorbitant private fees if you try to expedite help for them. I feel for them too. Makes me just feel so defeated.

I no sooner got up from my MacBook and DD came in with a very pink face to tell me she got the Officeworks job!! They called her about half an hour ago and left a message and she called them back. She is so happy!

We were planning to be there this afternoon for DD's birthday party with a bunch of friends. Luckily (NOW!!) we could only get a slot at the activity place tomorrow morning. Poor DD is distressed by association too

Those brothers who put pressure on wounds of the mum and baby will be in a terrible space right now with their lives forever altered. There are always those who step up, it is these people that somehow give me hope for the future.

I’m finding the whole “we need more police/protection at the shops” as a response to this, a bit odd. Because I see this as a very random attack by someone who was having a major mental health episode. The likelihood of this happening again any time soon is (hopefully) very very low. now, if it was an escalation of organised crime, a hoard of gangs, repeated gun crime at a location, that would definitely need a sweeping change involving more regular law enforcement on site. But this attack seems so random that I wouldn’t expect any change at all to happen at my local shops to prevent it happening again. the investment needs to be in mental health supports. That’s the root cause. And, as part of that, more police support in general so that they have the time and tools to also help people with mental health issues.

To read that those brave people operated lock down procedures and ushered people into store rooms is also brave in such an emergency. I can’t imagine being in a room cramped with other members of the public, crying and hearing gun shots That police woman is an incredible hero

Apply for a job and you get googled. Apply for a rental and you get googled and they ask for your social media accounts to look at. His will forever be associated with this.

Thought I'd update. They left today. The boyfriend came down for the weekend to help pack up her and grandchild stuff. Gave me an opportunity to have a couple of honest talks with him about his responsibilities to our granddaughter and my opinion about how this should have been done. He asked me if I would miss my daughter and I said in all honesty not now but will in the future. I said we are more concerned about our granddaughter and her well being. I gave him our contact numbers and said to call us about anything. I also called him out about listening to our daughter when he wanted to tell us and she said no. I said he should have as that is what an adult would do and that he can't allow my daughter to dominate him. He seems decent enough but in the conversation he said he was "fond" of daughter. I said shouldn't that be "love' particularly as there is a child involved. I've cried myself out over the last few weeks so only cried a little today. Poppy was the one who bawled. Granddaughter's behaviour had changed over the last couple of weeks too. She knew about "going to a new house" but she doesn't really understand. She wanted to give lots of impromptu cuddles to us. We are now getting used to the quiet. Poppy said a little while ago 'I'm waiting for the voice to call me from downstairs but it won't happen". And on a practical note - she left so much crap behind that we now have to deal with it. Edit to add - I did find a couple of half empty bottles of red wine and vodka and gin. Mine now!

While both are dangerous, I disagree. I think the number of victims would have been much higher if the offender had a gun.

If he targeted women because of their perceived weakness he was still targeting a misconception about women. It is however poetic justice that he was killed by a woman. So many women were heroes that day helping tend to the injured, performing CPR and keeping patrons safe behind locked doors.

Thank fuck we aren’t America, if it was a gun instead, the casualties would be so much higher.

Herald Sun cover this morning.

I was there the day before with DD. It's our local. My girls are often there by themselves. I am so devastated by this I can't sleep.

I've had a personal connection with parents that their adult child with MH issues has committed a crime that has locked them away for a long time. The repercussions for this family has been horrendous. Not wanting to leave the house, social media abuse etc. 5 years down the track they are just moving on but the mum won't go into our town at all. They lost a lot of 'friends" as they were very social people. It is very sad and I miss who they were.

To go through losing your son and knowing he was responsible for killing others must be such a clusterf**k of emotions. "I mean, how I can stand here and say that she did a wonderful job killing my son, I don't know, but she did her job and she did it well." I don't think we should be labelling him things like incel based off distressed people who are being harassed by the media and potentially tricked into saying things they might not mean the way it's being twisted.

I don’t think we are naive, but we are extremely lucky to have strict gun laws- thank you John Howard. I am forever grateful about this. I really can’t believe anyone in the media alluding to any reasons behind the crime. I would rather hope for the best and think this is a one off, one person. I think for anyone there that witnessed this they will have a lot of trauma to deal with

Profit? Really? They falsely named him a mass murderer… He will forever be linked to that in a quick online search. The video he posted said he was harassed as were his family and friends. I say good on him!! Its about bloody time media outlets were held responsible for this kind of shitty reporting!!

I just saw the man misidentified by Channel 7 is suing. I hope he gets a nice big payout. http://archive.is/https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/man-misidentified-as-bondi-junction-killer-hires-lawyers-to-sue-seven-20240417-p5fkfk.html

The media have been utter turds in all of this. Prying away at visibly distressed bystanders outside the mall and now the parents of the perpetrator, at their own home. I hope to all that is holy my family are never involved in a news media “event.”

Lehrmann loses his defamation case on a truth basis. Fuck you, you rapist.

You might not have to 'reload a knife" but I'm 99% sure that people who are intending to mass murder will have more than one gun. They'll empty one, drop it and move to the next weapon. And you can shoot from much further away, stabbing you need to be up close and personal and risk being overpowered, or held at bay with a bollard.

Thoughts and prayers to Faraz Ahmeds (security guard) family and friends who was also a victim of yesterdays attack. Your bravery has not gone unnoticed.

Personally I wouldn't do it. Two reasons: 1. Exceptionally invasive. 2. Not mentally healthy for the parent. It's time to start cutting those apron strings.

I have done some critical incident training in my work. The training was from a former SAS soldier who had also run a foreign retrieval consultation service. His basic advice was get TF out, and if you can't, lockdown and shelter as best you can. We were specifically talking about if someone came into our workplace and we could hear shooting. I have also done training around responding to mental health crisis (in young people) and again that training says "approach if safe to do so". A man wielding a knife is not a safe person to approach. Trust your fight/flight response and keep yourself safe by getting the F out of there. I would especially be doing that if there with my kids. I have previously put my body between my kids and another person who was clearly not mentally well, though nothing happened in that situation and we moved off without my kids noticing anything.

So tragic to read that he only arrived in Australian a year ago as a refugee from Pakistan, only a week into this job, and had no family here.

Thank you - I was going to comment about the terrorism aspect. Domestic violence is a form of terrorism - people living with DV don't know when the next attack will come - they are in a constant state of heightened anxiety and are kept under control by the threat. When a certain cohort of the male population attacks women when they are going for a run, when they are walking along the street, when they are on social media or when they are walking through a shopping centre, they are maintaining an ongoing act of terrorism against women. Boys moaning in class and making Andrew Tate references - it all serves to remind women that men are in power and women never know where the next attack is coming from.

I cried watching the footage today of Albo telling him (who is having visa issues) that someone who is that heroic can stay in this country as long as you like and has granted him permanent residence.

Holy crap. Maybe Bettina is actually playing an extremely complex feminist long game.

Not only that he believed her, but victims don't have to be 'nice' to be believed and for justice to be served. Victims can make poor choices, be flawed, potentially unlikable (not my view but many others) people and STILL be the victim of a crime.

A little bit of good news, the baby girl has been moved from critical to serious condition. I hope the guy that was misidentified takes ch 7 to court. I am not normally a 'sue them' type person but that is just not acceptable. The security guards at my local shops, a couple of them couldn't run more than a few meters. They are there purely for look, they don't chase thieves, they are just a presence. Hell, one day I saw one wearing those slide on shoes. These type of events are few and far between, thankfully so I don't know that arming shopping centre security is the right way to go. Maybe a baton? but not guns or even tasers.

I know people say this all the time, but it works! Lower your standards. Do the essentials and let the other stuff go. And it’s okay to be half-arsed about it. Have a look at Struggle Care. (How to keep house while drowning)

Yes it has changed after Newman and it never changed back. Partly it's a postcode lottery- metro north do take people more easily but if the unwell person is in metro south distict, good luck. We have a young bloke with schizophrenia in our family- he was left in what was flagrant psychosis for five years before they were willing to diagnose even. The final two years of that was with a residential care service, many Qpol incidents, Evolve and Child Safety adovcating *hard*. So if the bloke was on the wrong side of the river he (and any family he has) may have been left swinging. This incident has really shaken me- it's very much a "this could have been our family member" feeling. In fact we spent years fearing something like this could happen and no one in the health system woud listen to us or anyone else either.

Oh yeah, what a surprise. Bog-standard houses are now in the millions. Rents are insane and families are living in tents. Well-paid, secure jobs, including for the laughably-named "unskilled" are out, gig economy is in. Wages and salaries are stagnant for everyone. Public education is run down and kids need to put themselves into tens of thousands of dollars' worth of debt just to get started in a career (and that's after working for free in internships and uni placements). Child care costs more than private education for some. Never mind inflation and the COL price gouging. It's a wonder anyone's having bloody kids under these circumstances. It's as though governments are actively trying to demote us all back to before the post-WWII welfare state, so we can basically act as breeders for human fuel for corporate interests, and then getting all surprised Pikachu face when we don't want to bring kids into that. Like, big duh.

My heart goes out to the victims, and also the police officer who shot the offender. She did the right thing at the right time, but gosh I hope she has support around her.

Apparently yes

Wow. I will admit when I heard earlier the news media refer to a 'brave police officer' I rolled my eyes thinking it was dramatic language. But hear she chased him down, and confronted him ALONE with no back up. Just wow... Brave indeed.