A young British backpacker allegedly stabbed to death at a hostel by a French man after he yelled “Allahu akbar” has been described as “infectiously happy” by devastated friends.
Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, died at Shelley’s Backpackers in Home Hill, south of Townsville, late on Tuesday night after a brutal attack.
Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating if terrorism is behind her killing and the attempted killing of a 30-year-old fellow Brit.
An Australian man named as Grant Scholz, 46, also received non-life threatening wounds in the attack.
Witnesses at the scene reported the 29-year-old French national yelled “Allahu akbar” — “God is the greatest” in Arabic — before killing Ms Ayliffe-Chung in a frenzied attack and critically injuring a 30-year-old British male backpacker named locally as Tom Jackson.
Queensland Police Service Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the man yelled it again when police arrested him after the 21-year-old’s death, which a review of the officers’ body-worn cameras confirmed.
However he appealed for calm, saying there was no evidence Ms Ayliffe-Chung’s suspected killer was radicalized.
Neighbor Ray told The ABC he heard “blood curdling screams” on Tuesday night in the “sleepy little town”.
“I’ll never forget the screaming — I’ve never heard that before in my life. It’s terrible,” he said. “A sleepy little town like this, you don’t expect things like that to happen.”
Friends, family and strangers have flooded Miss Ayliffe-Chung’s Facebook page with many offering condolences to her family.
“RIP Lovely, fly high,” Rebecca Fitzgerald Newman wrote about the young woman known as Mimi. James Marilyn Cowan said: “there are no words. I am so sorry, our thoughts are with the family.”
Head of Pastoral Care at Anthony Gell School where Miss Ayliff Chung attended as a student, Paul Lovatt said the entire school community is “shocked and saddened” by the news.
“Mia was a bubbly student who was energetic, caring and who immersed herself in life, enriching the school environment she contributed to. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this most difficult of times,” he said.
“The investigation is still in its early stages, however, initial inquiries indicate that comments which may be construed as of an extremist nature were made by the alleged offender,” he said.
“It is alleged the suspect used the phrase, ‘Allahu akbar’ during the attack and when arrested by police.
“While this information will be factored in we are not ruling out any motivations at this stage, whether they be political or criminal.”
Mr Gollschewski said mental health would also be examined as a possible factor in the crime.
‘SHEER DISBELIEF’
Emily Jayne Waters moved out of the hostel less than a month ago and told news.com.au she was very close to the critically injured man.
Miss Waters said she believed he stepped in and tried to help the victim as she was being attacked — while other close friends watched in horror at the carnage unfold.
“Our closest friends are involved in this,” she wrote on Facebook. “I’m sat on my bed in absolute sheer disbelief. RIP to the poor girl who’s life has been taken, and to all my friends and the one in paticular who is in critical condition in hospital right now after no doubt being an absolute hero in this nightmare, my thoughts are with you and only you now, if I could I would come back today to be with you.”
She said the injured man was the “kindest soul” who she spent almost every night with.
“For now my friend is in the best place and I know he will be looked after- I’ll just keep asking the universe that he makes it through,” she wrote.
Mr Gollschewski said the French man was not known to Australian police and had been in the country since March on a temporary visa.
There was no evidence he had been radicalized, he said.
“This person appears to have acted alone, he is a visitor to Australia and has no known local connections,” he said.
“We are considering all options here. We are working very closely with our partner agencies to ensure that if there is any indication that this has an extremist slant to it or this person had been radicalized, we would be able to discover that.
“At this stage, we have no evidence of that.”
The Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force are assisting QPS with the investigation.
AFP Commander Sharon Cowden said federal officers would be working with their overseas counterparts to determine if there was a terror element to the attack.
“This was senseless act of violence … (but) there is no other indication but that he was acting alone,” she said.
Mr Gollschewski said the man had entered Australia lawfully and had not come to the attention of authorities in the months he had been in the country.
He said drugs and potential mental health issues were also yet to be ruled out as behind the crimes.
“The associated issues of what motivated him and whether that has any relevance to radicalization is something we are going to explore fully, we could be dealign with a purely criminal act or even something related to mental health or drugs,” he said.