A shocking and unprecedented attack occurred in a church in Australia after a teenage boy attempted to murder a bishop and a priest during a live-streamed mass, with the Australian police declaring the stabbing as a religiously motivated “terrorist act.”
An attacker stabbed Bishop Mari Emmanuel repeatedly whiles preaching; When he got back on his feet, he laid hands on the attacker to ask for forgiveness for him; the love of Christ. pic.twitter.com/sfFIz2ASDa
— Yaw Siki (@Yawsikigh) April 17, 2024
A 16-year-old boy was arrested on the scene on April 15th after attempting to stab and kill a bishop and a priest during a mass at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the suburb of Wakeley, a suburb around 30 kilometers away from Sydney.
Aside from the bishop and the priest, two other churchgoers were wounded, although the police said the four victims suffered "non-life-threatening" injuries. The attacker, who was forcibly held by police and was taken to an undisclosed location, also sustained injuries.
The incident was captured on a live stream shared on the church’s social media page. The live stream, along with other videos of the stabbing, quickly triggered an unrest in Wakeley. Horrified members of the church screamed and ran toward the teenage boy as the perpetrator stabbed the bishop in the head and the chest.
TERRORIST WHO STABBED BISHOP MAR MARI IS BEING LAUDED AS A HERO
Islamic radicals are praising the terrorist on social media, locally and overseas particularly in Lebanon from where many Australian Muslims have come.
The caption on this pic translates "I swear to God you are a… pic.twitter.com/3tJO1x36en— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) April 17, 2024
The 16-year-old boy spoke about the Prophet Muhammad in Arabic after stabbing the bishop and the priest, as heard in a separate eyewitness video verified by Reuters, who also reported on the stabbing. The clip shows the suspect pinned down to the ground by several members of the congregation, with the boy saying, "If they didn’t insult my prophet, I wouldn’t have come here. If he didn’t involve himself in my religion, I would not have come here.”
The graphic videos of the attack and its aftermath became viral on social media and also drew an angry crowd to the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley. There, hundreds of people upset about the attack violently clashed with the police, with two witnesses saying the crowd threw rocks at the police officers.
More than 100 police officers were sent to deal with the unrest, with two taken to the hospital for injuries and two members of the crowd pepper-sprayed by the police, according to Reuters. One of the injured police officers suffered a broken jaw after he was hit with a brick and fence palings, and around ten police cars were destroyed.
An angry crowd chants “bring him out” waiting for the suspect caught on livestream stabbing their Bishop Mar Mari inside their church. pic.twitter.com/zxRNb5tOTE
— Chriscoveries (@Chriscoveries) April 15, 2024
The two clerics were identified as Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and the Rev. Isaac Royel. Bishop Emmanuel, who became a priest in 2009 and was ordained as a bishop two years later, is very popular on social media. His online sermons gain hundreds of thousands of views on platforms like TikTok.
Karen Webb, the police commissioner for the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force, said on the morning of April 16th that Bishop Emmanuel and Rev. Isaac Royel were undergoing surgery and "lucky to be alive.” The suspect also remained in an undisclosed hospital and was being treated for severe hand wounds.
She also said the 16-year-old boy made comments to the bishop as he approached him, which were "centered around religion.” Police also believe staging an attack during a live-streamed mass was intended to be “intimidating not only [to] the parishioners in attendance, but those parishioners who were watching online.”
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel who has been stabbed and slashed multiple times by a suspected Islamist also had a few choice words to say about Islam and what Muhammed revealed in his Quran about Jesus. pic.twitter.com/6NsviCwJyY
— Diane Mary Booth (@DianeBo41302696) April 15, 2024
Webb also stood by her decision to describe the incident as a religiously-motivated terrorist attack, despite criticisms from many community leaders, who accused the police of unnecessarily stoking communal tensions with the “premature” declaration.
A vigil was held outside the hospital where Bishop Emmanuel was being treated. Christ The Good Shepherd Church urged those attending the vigil to leave and "respect his privacy and the safety of others.”
The church also posted on social media, telling followers they “ask for your prayers at this time. It is the Bishop's and Father's wishes that you also pray for the perpetrator."
The suspect, who was not identified, was determined to be acting alone. He was also not on any terror list, despite being "known to police" for previous knife charges, including one incident where he was expelled from his school in 2020 for bringing a knife inside school premises.
