More than $35,000 has been raised in just 15 hours for a homeless hero who stepped in to help police take down a rampaging terrorist.
Michael Rogers astonished millions after videos emerged of him taking on Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, 30, as the jihadi slashed at police officers with a knife in Melbourne’s Bourke Street.
He has since been praised for his bravery online and affectionately nicknamed the ‘Trolley Man’ and was even seen being thanked by police.
CEO and founder of Melbourne Homeless Collective Donna Stolzenberg established a GoFundMe page in order to help Mr Rogers ‘get back on his feet’.
The hero bystander who attempted to take down a knife-wielding terrorist using a shopping trolley during Friday’s horrific attack on Bourke Street says he doesn’t see himself as a hero (pictured)
More than $35,000 has been raised in just 15 hours for the homeless hero who stepped in to help police take down the Bourke Street terrorist
‘On November 9 2018 an incredible man named Michael Rogers from Melbourne, now known as ‘Trolleyman’, put his own life at risk to stop a terrorist who was on a rampage,’ Ms Stolzenberg wrote.
‘Mr Rogers bravely shoved a shopping trolley at the terrorist in an attempt to assist police in his capture.’
‘We’ve since learned that our hero ‘Trolleyman’ homeless and that his phone was destroyed in the incident. We believe his efforts deserve a reward that can really help him out.’
Ms Stolzenberg had an initial goal of $15,000 but in the 15 hours the page has been active it has surpassed it and reached $35,000 and is quickly rising.
Mr Rogers, 46, repeatedly rammed Ali with a shopping trolley after the Somalian stabbed three people, killing one.
The humble homeless man, who broke his mobile phone fighting off Ali, was found sitting on a bench just 500 metres from the scene of Friday’s attack in Melbourne.
He told 7News he didn’t see his actions as heroic but believes they may have helped to save lives.
‘I’ve seen the trolley at the side and so I picked it up and ran,’ he said, while imitating the action.
‘I threw the trolley straight at him, and I got him. I didn’t quite get him down, though.
‘I did that motion quite a number of times but it just wasn’t getting him down.’
A bystander has been hailed a hero after he attempted to take down a knife-wielding man using a shopping trolley during Friday’s horrific attack on Melbourne’s Bourke Street
CEO and founder of Melbourne Homeless Collective Donna Stolzenberg established a GoFundMe page in order to help Mr Rogers ‘get back on his feet’ (pictured)
Mr Rogers’ phone shattered during the melee, but he said it was a small price to pay to defend his city.
But not all police officers were happy with his efforts, with Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton urging civilians to avoid putting their lives at risk like Mr Rogers did.
But police say they want to avoid copy-cat scenarios in potential future incidents.
Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said authorities had spoken with Mr Rogers, but the public should not be putting themselves on the front line in dangerous situations.
‘Look, you just have to be a bit careful about — in that situation how close you do get — because he could have been injured himself,’ Mr Ashton told Weekend Today on Saturday morning.
‘But certainly he was acting in the spur of the moment and looking to support the police.
Mr Roger’s phone shattered during the melee, but he said it was a small price to pay to defend his city
After confronting Ali, officers retreated to the other side of the road as the bearded attacker with a shaved head and dressed in a long brown tunic, pursued them as horrified bystanders called on police to shoot him
‘There was a number of people that did that and we are always grateful when the community are supporting our police members.’
Mr Rogers received an outpouring of public support online and from civilians in the street, with people telling him he was ‘a hero’, and ‘a champion’.
‘Extraordinary and humbling. So many people look upon the homeless (if they even look at all) with disdain and, sometimes, even fear, yet this man, who doesn’t even have a home, risked the only thing he has – his life – to keep strangers safe,’ one person said.
Another said: ‘Trolley man is everything great about Australia. He’s not running away. He’s helping in a crisis, and he’s doing it in a ridiculous but effective way.’
‘Total respect to the shopping trolley hero trying to take down a mad knife man with nothing but a metal basket on not very good wheels,’ one person tweeted.
‘Incredible work by police in Melbourne but also bystanders – one using a trolley to try subdue the man,’ another said.
‘Cops trying to take down man armed with knife. Passerby seems to be trying to take him out with a shopping trolley!’ one comment said.
Video showed a man wielding a knife attempt to stab and slash at two police officers before he was shot with a taser and fell to the ground, while a brave shopper tried to hit him with a trolley