Police say Sydney attacker was known to police but had not been charged

Police block a street near a crime scene at Bondi Junction in Sydney, on Sunda (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The man who killed six people in a knife attack at a shopping centre in Sydney was known to police, but had not been arrested or charged before he committed the attack on Saturday, police said.

Joel Cauchi, 40, from Queensland, was identified by New South Wales police on Sunday after he was killed by a police officer during the attack at the Westfield shopping centre at Bondi Junction in the east of Sydney.