Traumatised shoppers have questioned if Westfield Bondi Junction can ever be the same again after it was the scene of a deadly massacre.
Five innocent shoppers and a security guard were killed when Joel Cauchi, 40, embarked on a stabbing spree at the busy shopping centre on Saturday.
On Thursday, members of the public were invited to pay their respects during a sombre ‘day of reflection’, with hundreds attending and many leaving tributes.
Others left bouquets of flowers underneath six wreaths of white roses or shared messages with those affected by the tragedy in a condolence book.
Daily Mail Australia went to Bondi Junction to hear how the public there was recovering from the violent scenes that shocked Australia and the world.
Hundreds of people paid their respects to victims of the Bondi Junction stabbing on Thursday
One woman is seen overcome with emotion after visiting the memorial on Thursday
A little girl is seen leaving a single rose at the growing sea of flowers at the memorial site
Rohan Anderson was forced to take cover in Fitness First when shoppers were told to evacuate Westfield Bondi Junction at about 3.30pm on Saturday.
He told Daily Mail Australia he heard gunshots from inside the gym.
Mr Anderson returned to the shopping centre to pay his respects to the victims.
‘It was very sombre and very reflective in there today,’ he said. ‘On the night there was a lot of emotion but in a different way.
‘Lots of fear and the unknown. I think it’s the unknown that drives the ‘what if’ scenarios and creates more fear.
‘When you’re in the centre and you don’t know what’s going on, I think it’s that sense of ‘what if’ fear that is the most shocking thing about it.’
Mr Anderson said a day of reflection was the right thing to do for victims.
‘I think we’re extremely lucky in Australia that this is rare and we have very strong settings around weapons and particularly guns,’ he said.
‘That gives me a lot of comfort and a feeling of safety but I think it will take time.’
When asked if security guards should be armed, Mr Anderson said he felt uncomfortable about more weapons in the community.
‘I think the premier has done the right thing in announcing some funding for that. We need to look at it, we need to get the settings right,’ he said.
‘I would have felt a lot less safe [that night] if I had known there were more guns out there, no matter whose hands they were in.’
Mental Health volunteers were on hand to support mourners at the centre on Thursday
Bondi Junction locals William and Harriette said it felt eerie to see the shopping centre so quiet
But William and Harriette, who live locally, said they had reservations on returning to the shopping centre when normal trading resumes.
‘I don’t think I’ll be back for a while,’ Harriette said.
‘It’s pretty scary that it could happen at any time, anywhere,’ William added.
The pair said it felt ‘very eerie’ to see Westfield so calm and quiet.
‘It’s funny to see all the shops closed,’ William said.
‘And everyone’s not looking too happy, which reflects what’s happened. It’s very sad all the women that have passed away and the security guard too.
Eugenie, who works in Westfield Bondi Junction at Sydney Ultrasound for Women, said the mood at the memorial had been sombre.
Friday marked her first day back at work since the attack on Saturday.
Friday marked Eugenie’s first day back at work in the shopping centre since Saturday’s attack
‘We are part of this community, we are so devastated for a lot of our patients that work locally and lives within the Sydney region,’ she said.
‘This is a very central hub for us all to do everyday tasks whether it’s work or it’s coming here to shop, to see the dry cleaner.
‘So you don’t really have a choice not to come back here.
‘But I think it is important to return and let everyone know it’s our place and we’re going to make it very safe and very special for the lives that were lost.’
Eugenie said the community was making their support clear after a ‘horrific event’.
‘The community has very heavy hearts for what’s happened. It’s hard to come back here when you know some family members haven’t made it home,’ she said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns and NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webbs visited the Westfield
People queue up to sign the condolences book at the memorial at Westfield Bondi Junction
Alice, who works in one the shops in Bondi Junction, revealed she had narrowly avoided being caught up in the stabbing spree on Saturday.
‘I usually work a lot of weekends, but I was away,’ she said.
‘So finding out… I just instantly wanted to message my friends, which I did. Luckily they were all okay but everyone is really shaken up.’
Alice said it was ‘touch and go’ for when people returned to work.
‘It’s a case of wanting to do it very respectfully,’ she said.
‘I will go back to work as soon as the store reopens, maybe some of my staff members won’t want to go.
‘It will definitely be a really weird vibe. I reckon it will be very quiet.’
Leo George, 23, said there was an empty feeling in the shopping centre on Thursday
Leo George, 23, visited the memorial with his mother.
The family had moved out of their unit in one of the apartment blocks less than 100m from Bondi Junction on Friday – just one day before the attack.
‘We come here all the time, all the time,’ he said.
‘It’s a very empty feeling and it’s pretty indescribable. I think the second-hand feeling is very different to the first-hand feeling, it’s pretty unreachable.
‘You can still feel the emptiness inside there.’
Julie Nguyen, who works at Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology just around the corner from Westfield, visited the memorial on her lunch break.
She and her colleagues were taking turns to take a walk around the centre.
‘It’s sad,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘You can’t believe that you can go to the shops and never return.’
Ms Nguyen said she was unsure about returning to the shopping centre.
‘I do believe the security team and the police did as much as they could but you just never know, you might be in the middle of the road, you might be surrounded by police and it still could happen,’ she said.
Julie Nguyen works at the Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology just around the corner
Father-of-two Tony Chiadac said Bondi Junction was a close community
Father-of-two Tony Chidiac said the mood inside the centre had been ‘surreal’.
‘To walk through and at the same time try to understand what unfolded,’ he said.
While he didn’t personally know any of the victims, he said there was ‘one degree of separation’ in the close community.
‘I know of people who knew the victims,’ he said.
‘So it just makes it all the more real and sad really. We’re locals, we live across the road and we’re most days.’
Mr Chiadac is hopeful his family can feel safe in the shopping centre again.
‘It’s like a second home to us,’ he said.
‘Just getting groceries, going to the gym, childcare in there over the years. I hope it can return to normality at some point in time.’
He said it was up to police to decide if security guards would be armed with pepper spray or given powers to spot check shoppers.
‘That’s a tough one. I’m sure they’ll analyse that in due course,’ he said.
Kristelle Castro said her roommate was working in the food court at Bondi Junction Westfield
Debra Birke said the memorial felt like a ‘beautiful place of love’
Kristelle Castro said her roommate, who works in the food court, had been working when the incident unfolded on Saturday.
‘She was pretty traumatised,’ she said. ‘There’s no updates as to when she’s returning to work.’
Ms Castro said the memorial had given her a ‘headache’ and a ‘sick stomach’.
‘It’s really scary walking past there, it feels completely different.’
Debra Birke said she was grateful to be allowed the opportunity to grieve in peace.
‘It felt like a beautiful place of love, that might sound a little corny,’ she said.
‘I feel like it was very special.’
Ms Birke visits Bondi Junction Westfield a couple of times a week.
‘I think people will reflect here for quite some time and the emotion is real. I think people will come here with a more open heart,’ she said.
‘I hope that people don’t get scared by it because it’s a tragedy all round. It’s a tragedy for the families that have lost someone, it’s a tragedy for the family of the mentally unwell person who was the perpetrator.
‘It’s just such a tragedy because it is about mental health issues of course, but it’s also about someone who was in a major struggle and fell through the gaps.’
She questioned whether security guards should have better protections.
‘Do we want to put pepper spray in the hands of everybody? Do we want to have metal detectors to ensure that no metal of any description is brought in.
‘I don’t know what the answer is.’
Many took the opportunity to grieve in peace before normal trading resumes on Friday
Rebecca Sommi-Fisher said she had come to pay her respects to the victims despite not personally knowing anyone involved in the attack.
‘It’s my local and it’s my community,’ she said.
‘It feels so surreal to be here. It was so respectful in there, everyone was silent like we were in a church. It’s a reminder of the goodness in the world.’
Ms Sommer-Fisher said she would hate Australia to have to follow in America’s footsteps in having people enter malls through security gates.
She is in support of security guards being armed with measures that could ‘stop people in their tracks’ such as pepper spray.
Ms Sommer will continue to shop at Bondi Junction and believes there is more good than evil in the world.
‘I will definitely come back here, this hasn’t changed things,’ she said.
‘That man was very sick. I don’t think there’s anything to be afraid of.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk