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Australian police have arrested a man suspected of stabbing a church leader and multiple parishioners during Mass on Monday night, authorities said.
The attack happened at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, a suburb in southwest Sydney, during a Mass that was being livestreamed.
Police responded around 7:10 p.m. to Welcome Street following reports that multiple people were stabbed, New South Wales Police said in a statement.
Officers arrested a male suspect, who was being interviewed by authorities. Those injured in the stabbing suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were treated at the scene before being transported to a hospital, police said.
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In this still image from social media livestream, an attacker approaches Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a church service at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, Sydney, Australia, on Monday night. (Christ The Good Shepherd Church / Reuters)
The church’s livestream showed a man, later identified as Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, behind the altar in the church when a man walked toward him holding an unknown object. The man lunged at him and began to stab him in the chest.
Churchgoers screamed and rushed to help the bishop, who could be seen falling to the ground as the suspect continued to attack.
A police tactical team works at the scene following a stabbing at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the suburb of Wakeley in Sydney, Australia, on Monday. (Reuters/Lewis Jackson)
Bishop Emmanuel is the leader of a conservative sect of the Assyrian Orthodox faith, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Multiple individuals suffered non-life-threatening injuries when a man began to stab a priest at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the suburb of Wakeley in Sydney, Australia, on Monday. (AAP Image/Paul Braven via Reuters)
Faith New South Wales CEO Murray Norman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the stabbing was “horrific.”
Police work at the scene following a stabbing at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the suburb of Wakeley in Sydney, Australia, on Monday. (AAP Image/Paul Braven via Reuters)
“I haven’t heard about his condition, but the faith communities are desperately grieving and praying for the bishop, it’s just horrible that this could happen after everything that’s happened this week,” Norman said.
