Focus Live Earlier: Man goes on attempted stabbing spree in Sydney CBD
A woman has been found with her throat cut in an apartment building metres away from where a man went on an afternoon stabbing rampage in Sydney's CBD.
Mert Ney, 21, terrorised Sydney CBD by running around with a large kitchen knife and stabbed a woman before members of the public restrained him on the ground with chairs and a milk crate.
Police said Ney attempted to stab "multiple people" and was arrested minutes after he allegedly plunged a knife into a woman's back at a city hotel.
Members of the public confronted the man, who was holding a large kitchen knife, and restrained him until emergency services arrived. Photo / Twitter
Police have confirmed a woman was found dead in the apartment block Clarence House just after 3pm this afternoon.
"Information was found on him that would suggest he had some ideologies related to terrorism... but he has no apparent links to other terrorist organisations," Fuller said.
Fuller suggested a USB drive contained content related to other mass killings in New Zealand and the US, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Ney is an escaped mental patient, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Members of the public confronted the man, who was holding a large kitchen knife, and restrained him until emergency services arrived. Photo / Twitter
Clarence St Cyclery, the shop that sits directly below the apartments where the woman was found dead, was forced to close this afternoon after police set up crime scenes in front and behind the shop.
An employee from the shop told news.com.au he saw the armed man run past.
"There's something going on upstairs," he said.
"They've had a whole lot of top brass police go up there."
NSW Police confirmed one victim, a young woman, was stabbed in a hotel near Clarence St and King St in the central city. She has been taken to hospital in a stable condition.
Video of the incident showed members of the public and a firefighter restraining Ney on the ground with cafe chairs and a milk crate.
Ney has blood on his hands and shirt. He had earlier been yelling "Shoot me, I want to die."
In video obtained by 7 News, the alleged knifeman can be seen restrained under a milk crate and cafe chairs. Photo / Twitter
NSW Police Superintendent Gavin Wood said the alleged offender had tried to stab multiple other people.
"Those attempts thankfully were unsuccessful," Wood said.
Wood praised the bravery of bystanders who helped apprehend Ney.
Some random dude started stabbing people right outside my office in #Wynyard and a group of people held him down. Be careful folks, also avoid CBD KingSt and Clarence if you can there is police blocking those streets #Sydney#CBD#freak#Stabbingpic.twitter.com/2SAdtw7ZRa
"They were significantly brave people. To approach a person with a mind set of obviously what this person [had], with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes."
There is a heavy police presence on King St and Clarence St in Wynyard.
So insane! A random dude just started stabbing people in the city right outside where we were having lunch. I saw people running so I ran towards him with a few other guys.
"There were a stack of people running down Barrack Place saying that there was a guy with a knife," Papaianni told news.com.au.
"I ran into the Woolworths and people inside got them to shut the glass doors. I was feeling OK until I saw a mother crying with her baby in her hands, trying to get into the Woolies.
"Police started arriving about a minute later and started to chase him."
An Uber driver who was on King Street near the Grace Hotel told 2GB Radio that he saw the terrifying incident unfold.
"Next thing I see this guy jumping over the car, over the bonnet … he had a knife in his hand," the man said.
