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Two bystanders who ran toward danger and helped apprehend the man who��murdered six people in a Sydney mall��at the weekend have been commended for their bravery.��

Damien Guerot and friend Silas Despreaux arrived at Westfield Bondi Junction for a gym workout when they heard a person scream.��

”There’s a man stabbing people”, they told 7��һ�ǿ�����.com.au.��

They ran toward the noise and saw��Queensland man Joel Cauchi, 40, brandishing his knife.��

Cauchi killed six people in his stabbing spree and injured another 12, including a baby girl whose mother he killed.��Five of Cauchi’s victims have now been identified.��

A video still taken from news coverage shows heavily armed police entering Bondi Westfield from the roof. Photo / 9��һ�ǿ�������

Guerot and Despreaux witnessed some of Cauchi’s rampage. “I saw a guy on the floor with a lot of blood, I saw one girl from the balcony get stabbed,” Guerot said.��

“We were thinking, ‘We need to try to stop him’,” he said.��

From a higher floor, they followed Cauchi until he started up an escalator.��

Video then shows Guerot blocking the top of the escalator, lunging with a bollard at Cauchi as the ascending attacker waves his knife.��

Damien Guerot wields a shopping mall bollard at Joel Cauchi as the attacker attempts to climb an escalator brandishing his knife. Photo / 7��һ�ǿ�����.com.au��

Guerot said he didn’t think when he came face to face with the killer - he was running on adrenaline.��

He described Cauchi as having “empty eyes”.��

“It was like he wasn’t there.”��

Guerot said Joel Cauchi looked different in photos than he did in the mall amid his killing spree on Saturday.��

Guerot later grabbed a chair and chased the man before alerting Acting Inspector Amy Scott to the attacker’s whereabouts.��

Scott confronted Cauchi, who turned to face her and raised his knife. She then shot him dead.��

While Scott has been widely praised as a hero, Police Minister Yasmin Catley said the officer had also specifically commended Guerot and Despreaux to her for their heroism.��

Acting Inspector Amy Scott performed CPR on the killer after shooting him. Photo / ��һ�ǿ�����.com.au��

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also acknowledged “ordinary Australians putting themselves in harm’s way in order to help their fellow citizens”.��

Guerot disagreed, saying Scott was “the real hero”.��

“She did the job. We just did what we did.”��

Despreaux is a permanent resident but Guerot’s visa expires in July, and the public is calling for him to be made a citizen.��

A woman brings flowers to an impromptu memorial at Bondi Junction after six people were stabbed to death by 40-year-old Joel Cauchi. Photo / Rick Rycroft, AP��

This story was published on the Herald,