The recent assassination attempt on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump should act as a reminder to all people around the world that there are those among us that will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, or such as in the case of the attack on the businessman, media personality and former president of the United States of America, to end the life of someone they oppose.
Trump, who is no stranger to controversy suffered minor injuries on July 13th, 2024, when a gunshot wounded his right ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. During the incedent another attendee at the rally was killed and seriously wounded two others.
The shooter himself who has since been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks was killed by FBI agents and a full investigation is in process.
Sadly, we in Australia, have had our own share of similar attacks, such as the first political assassination in our nation being the case of Labor party politician John Newman, who served as both deputy mayor and acting mayor of Fairfield city council and on the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales and was shot and killed outside his home in Cabramatta about 9:30pm, 5th September 1994.
For our full story on John Newman:
In more recent times we have the example of an attempted murder, which although fortunately failed, does serve to illustrate these types of attacks can occur anywhere and to potentially anyone and not just for political reasons
The case in question is that of Mar Mari Emmanuel, Bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, New South Wales,when on 15 April 2024, Emmanuel and five others were stabbed with a knife during a live-streamed sermon.
Ongoing investigations are underway to determine if the youth may have been radicalised in the lead-up to the attack, which police have stated appears to have been religiously motivated.
This theory is supported by the live stream of the sermon, where the 16 year old attacker spoke in Arabic, reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar” before the attack. In addition, in another video by a churchgoer, it has been reported he is heard saying “if he didn’t insult my prophet and religion, I wouldn’t have come here”
According to Emmanuel, just about one month before the stabbing, there were also threats spread on TikTok, stating he “has two weeks to live”.
Police described the attack as “terrorist act” and “religiously motivated terrorism”.
Although these attacks are not common, at least here in Australia, it is probably a safe assumption that most ‘Aussies” want to keep it that way.