Inspector Amy Scott entered the shopping centre alone on Saturday afternoon after reports of the attack.
Video footage showed her, accompanied by several bystanders including one wielding a chair, in pursuit of the knife-wielding Cauchi.
She confronted him, and witnesses have said Cauchi “dived” at her, at which point she shot him.
Scott then performed CPR on the fallen man, but he died.
Scott was yesterday hailed as a “hero” and praised for her actions.
This morning, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said she had spoken with Scott on Saturday evening.
“She was exhausted and she was spending time with her family yesterday and today,” Catley told Today.
“And she will be interviewed formally tomorrow.”
Catley praised Scott as a “professional”.
“She’s a very experienced police officer who just went straight into being a great policeman (sic) on that spur of the moment,” she said.
“And she said to me that all of her training just clicked in and she did what she knew she had to do.”
Catley said Scott was receiving “every support” from NSW Police.
Buildings illuminated for victims of Sydney shopping centre stabbing
As well as Scott, investigators are set to interview Cauchi’s family, and the families of the victims.
They have closed the crime scene at Westpoint Bondi and returned it to Scentre Group, who will decide when it re-opens.
Catley said she believed customers would “absolutely” return to the shopping centre.
“Westfield here in Bondi is iconic, and I will absolutely understand people’s trepidation,” she said.
“But as a community, even though and often we see this through incredible tragedy, we see great human spirit.”
- Six people have been killed in a mass stabbing attack at Westfield shopping centre at Bondi Junction in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
- The man, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, was shot dead by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott at the scene. Police do not believe he acted “with ideation”.
- Twelve people were taken to hospital, though police said others may have presented independently with minor injuries.
- Five women and one man were killed in the attack, which also left a dozen injured.
- They include Faraz Tahir, 30, a refugee who started working as a security guard that day; Ashlee Good, 38, a mum whose baby was also stabbed; Dawn Singleton 25, a shop worker and daughter of businessman John Singleton, architect and mother-of-two Jade Young, 47, Chinese student Yixuan Cheng, 25, and Pikria Darchia, 55.
- Three people – a woman, man and a nine-month-old baby girl – remain in a critical condition.
- Eight others are stable and one woman has been discharged from hospital.
- Details are emerging of heroic acts by shoppers who tried to help as the rampage unfolded.
- Mobile phone footage shows crowds hiding in stairwells, with other shoppers saying they were evacuated to the roof and others cowered in shops.
- The shopping centre will remain closed on Monday as police work through the crime scene.
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