“At this stage there’s no indications. other than the fact he was acting alone”, Australian Federal Police Commander Sharon Cowden added at the same press conference.
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State Police Minister Bill Byrne earlier called for calm after anti-immigration firebrand Pauline Hanson, a newly elected senator, was reported as saying the incident “could well be the first terrorist attack in Queensland”.
He also wrote “get well soon” in reference to 30-year-old Tom Jackson, from Congleton in Cheshire, who was seriously injured when the knifeman struck at his head.
Mr Jackson was stabbed as he tried to rescue Miss Ayliffe-Chung by shielding her from the blows. She was posting photos to social media to keep her friends and family updated about her activities.
The Guardian reported that Ayliffe-Chung, 21, was visiting Australia from Derbyshire in the United Kingdom and was reportedly days into a three-month working holiday.
The suspect is a 29-year-old French national. Police were trying to determine whether the man had been motivated by extremism, or something else.
Ayad is alleged to have attacked the woman after dragging her from a bunk bed in a shared dormitory and leaving her to die on the floor.
The detective said the suspect appeared to have shown “some form of change of behaviour” and there was “some stuff that was a bit out of character” on Tuesday night, adding that Ayad may have taken cannabis.
According to witnesses, the killer yelled “Allah Akbar” – Arabic for “God is great” – during the attack and after he was arrested.
Two men were also injured in the attack Tuesday night in the town of Home Hill, in northern Queensland.
“I can tell you the scene that confronted police was awful. there was a lot of blood, there were two persons, one was deceased and one was certainly in a very bad way”, District Superintendent Ray Rohweder told the Townsville Bulletin.
He said: “Witnesses have said that they have observed the person attacking one of the persons and as a result of that there was another altercation and subsequently the male person has gone back upstairs at the accommodation complex”.
“Investigators will also consider whether mental health or drug misuse factors are involved in this incident”, he said.
Mia Ayliffe-Chung, the victim in a brutal killing.
Police outside Shelley’s Backpackers in Home Hill.
Cowden condemned the attack as a “senseless act of violence”. She studied childcare at Buxton & Leek College before travelling to Bali and Australia.
Amy Brown, a co-worker from the bar Ayliffe-Chung worked at in Surfer’s Paradise described her as a lovely person.
“I think we should be cautious by not associating this phrase with terrorism and empowering the terrorists”. She had been living in Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland on a three-month trip.
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This attack comes as a particular shock because of its apparent random nature.
