2024 Wakeley church stabbing
| 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 (AEST; UTC+10:00) |
Attack type | Stabbing |
| Weapon | Flick knife |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 4 (including the perpetrator) |
| Motive | Mental disorder |
| 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. 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" over the attack. They have classified the stabbing as a terrorist attack that was "religiously or ideologically" motivated, but have not released the name of the suspect. Wakeley is home to many Christians belonging to the Assyrian diaspora, including Emmanuel himself.