Within the limitations of the news footage what I saw was an unfortunate man probably experiencing a psychotic episode, which may have been directed towards women for some complex neurological reason. In saying that I am not making excuses for the guy or criticizing the method of his fatal outcome. Sometimes, you just have no alternative but to put a mad dog down. That said, the last thing I considered was a terrorist attack or the guy's ethnicity. In a way it reminded me of the Lindt Cafe event and the guy that ran over all those folks in Melbourne's CBD. Both those guys were in the midst of some sort of mental episode, and I suggest that today's event was similar. All that said, aside from the horror and heartbreak of connected family and friends resulting from these tragedies, you have to ask yourself why these people are out on the streets. In all three circumstances the perpetrators were known to the police as having unusual habits; so too the medical profession that were treating them. And bear in mind that this is way common than we think. You don't hear much about the one kill cases behind closed doors where someone has had a psychotic episode and knifed to death a parent of house mate. They are blips in the media compared to the multiple death events, but they add up, a lot. So, the question is, why are there not enough secure, human government institutions to house these tortured minds before they kill someone? Does the government of both persuasions think it reasonable and cost effective to let them roam the streets at the expense of innocent lives?
To cement my argument: Not so many years ago a work college of my wife had a psychotic daughter. The years of horror stories that daughters' parents endured and their fruitless attempts at having their daughter committed are mind blowing - until one day, for no discernable reason, their daughter stabbed a man to death. Hardly mad the news.
