On April 15th, the face of Islamic rage showed itself yet again, this time in Sydney, AUS. As Bishop Mari Emmanuel was giving a live-streamed sermon at Christ The Good Shepherd Church, a man clad in all black approached. Stabbing the Christian Orthodox priest multiple times, the assailants yelled out the war cry of the terrorist, “Allahu Akbar!!” repeatedly as he stabbed the priest in the head and chest.

Immediately, onlookers charged the 16-year-old and subdued him until the police arrived. As they held him down, he allegedly said, “He should have kept my God from being spoken from his lips!!” In the process of his attack, another priest was injured, but not severely.

Coming just 48 hours after the murder of six people in Westfield Mall at Bondi Junction, the reaction to the stabbing of the priest was huge. Almost immediately, a crowd of 2000 or so people surrounded the church. Attacking the police and paramedics, they wanted to keep the teen away from being saved and instead wanted vengeance themselves. Especially given how soft some of the liberal justices have been in Australia.

For neighbors, the chaos was astonishing. This quiet section of the city suddenly broke into mayhem, leaving many who live near the church in fear for their lives. As police and medics who were responding were attacked, and in some cases, their vehicles were targeted, neighbors were concerned about the swath in violence and worried they could be attacked as well.

After all was settled, New South Wales Police, alongside the Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organization, have classified the stabbing as an act of terrorism. Thankfully, the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team will be investigating it. It’s great to see a country that has citizens who will surround a church to keep the attacker confined and who want real justice. We need more of this globally, and certainly here in the US.