Heroic group of heroes kept death toll to a minimum

Sydney has never really cared for caution, and ­during Tuesday’s deadly knife rampage that attitude may have saved many lives.

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We’ve heard the police caution announcement so often we know it by heart: “The suspect is considered armed and dangerous. If seen, do not approach. Call law enforcement ­immediately.” There was no time ­during Tuesday’s deadly knife rampage for police to issue any such warning, but ­chances are none of the heroes who took on alleged knifeman Mert Ney would have paid much ­attention anyway.

Sydney has never really cared for caution. This city, God bless it, tends to act first then sort out any problematic little details afterwards.

On Tuesday, that attitude may have saved lives. Oh, to hell with it; let’s just say it did save lives, because it’s true.

“Chair man” approaches Mert Ney. Picture: Seven News

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And it all began with a mild-­looking grey-haired chap carrying a wicker chair.

Until the intervention of “chair man”, whose identity remained ­unknown as of mid-Wednesday, the alleged attacker was in control of the situation. Armed with a 30cm knife, he called the shots. Police at that early stage were still minutes away.

Chair man entered the scene as the alleged attacker leapt on to the roof of a Mercedes, holding that knife in his bloodied hand. When the Mercedes driver snapped left, the alleged ­attacker dropped to the ground perhaps a metre or so from where his chair-holding nemesis was standing.

The pair engaged for several vital seconds in a tense mid-street knife-chair standoff. Those few seconds ­allowed for the rapid assembly of a citizen-based disarmament squad who immediately swung into co-ordinated action.

NRL playmakers delay passes until teammates are in position. They will hold up the opposition, feinting and dodging, so as to bring teammates into the action.

Police take Ney into custody. Picture: Kartik Lad

Jonathan Thurston was an absolute master of field manipulation — but Thurston always had the advantage of knowing the strengths and abilities of his allies. Most of the team that spontaneously came together on Tuesday, estimated to have been at least 15 strong, were total strangers to each other. They had to work out their game plan on the fly.

Moreover, they had no idea of precisely what game they were playing. For all they knew, the alleged attacker may have had a few teammates of his own, or be equipped with something even deadlier than a knife.

They did not know how many ­victims had allegedly been stabbed, nor did they know that in a Clarence St unit 24-year-old Michaela Dunn lay dead.

They did know, however, that they had to move.

As video footage shows, Team Sydney swung in behind chair man and began running down the alleged attacker. Various members fanned out across streets to keep their ­quarry in view and safeguard possible escape routes.

Witness Paul O'Shaughnessy explains how events unfolded. Picture: AAP

The Mercedes driver had a ringside seat. “I made a right turn to get back onto York St and there he was again,” the driver told Nine News, “being chased near York and Clarence, by the police and the public, by fireys, with chairs and everything they could get their hands on.”

Paul O’Shaughnessy, his brother Luke and fellow Manchester mate Lee Cuthbert, who had seen the ­alleged attacker atop the Mercedes from their office, had now joined the team.

“Immediately, we just got the troops and said, ‘Right, let’s go and see if we can help’,” O’Shaughnessy said.

These three basically operated as a team within a team.

“Me, Paul and Luke, we’ve adopted Australia as our new home,” Cuthbert told Nine media following his successful citizenship test.

Impressively, Team Sydney gathered new members as the pursuit continued. Steven Georgiadas was a key recruit. “I heard some screaming and shouting,” the traffic controller told news.com.au.

“It was really, really loud — ‘Stop him, get out of the way’ — with a whole stack of men chasing him.”

This entire episode had been under way for fewer than two minutes, but everyone involved had already taken on multiple and complementary roles: chasers, sighters, weapons-gatherers and coaches, whose calls brought Georgiadas into the contest as a blocker.

“I was ready to crash tackle him but as I’ve got up to him I saw he had this massive knife pointed down ­towards the ground,” Georgiadas said.

The woman stabbed in the incident is assisted by paramedics. Picture: AAP

“As soon as I saw the knife I moved to the side so I could crash tackle him sideways so he wouldn’t stab me.”

That pause gave a second chair man his chance to belt the alleged ­attacker. “He stumbled and the knife, thank God, fell out of his hand,” Georgiadas reported.

Obviously a competitive bloke, the traffic controller would have loved a second tackle attempt.

“I would have got him, I’m telling you. I played a bit of rugby when I was young and even though I’m nearly 68, I would have got him.”

That’s the Sydney spirit, which was also apparent in later comments from police.

Often in these situations police will express gratitude but warn the public about the dangers of direct ­engagement.

There was none of that on Tuesday. Just total endorsement and ­admiration for a job well done.

Sydney is a   city   that   never backs away.