The “Bollard men”,the heroic shoppers who used a bollard to try to stop Joel Cauchi from attacking fellow customers,have been identified as French construction workers Silas Despreaux and Damien Guerot.
Footage from the shopping centre under siege shows Guerot standing at the top of an escalator brandishing a bollard as Cauchi advances;later footage appears to show the two men wielding a metal cafe chair as he and others sprint after Inspector Amy Scott towards Cauchi.
The friend said Despreaux had called him after the incident and said he was coping well.
“He’s OK. It’s a very strange thing for someone. I haven’t had much of a chance to speak to him since. He has been busy with police,I think.”
The friend had been with Despreaux and Guerot on Saturday morning,and said he was in a state of shock.
“I can’t believe it,it’s like something off TV.”
Despreaux has lived in Sydney for several years,and works for a small St Leonards-based construction firm. He owns a dog,the friend said,and is a keen motorbike rider.