Last year, New Zealand was the site of two violent stabbing attacks on supermarkets. One was considered a terrorist attack while one judge found no reason for the other attack.
Last September, a Muslim extremist inspired by the Islamic State group stabbed five people at an Auckland supermarket before police shot him dead. Three of those stabbed were seriously injured and two others were also injured in hand-to-hand combat, but all survived.
And in May last year, shoppers and staff at a Dunedin supermarket managed to prevent a frantic man from harming others after he stabbed four people in a random attack, seriously injuring three of them. .
Dunedin striker Luke Lambert, 43, was convicted of four counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Among the witnesses to Thursday’s attack was a lady walking with a dog. He said a man in a sweatshirt came out of Seaton Ave and started stabbing people.
The man chased a 17-year-old girl who shouted, he said.
The alleged stabbing man attacked several people in Auckland’s Murrays Bay on Thursday morning. He was stopped by construction workers, and one was hit with a crutch. Credit: Chris McKeen / Stuff
“We thought she was being a fool, she was screaming.
“He stabbed two people, completely at random … everything happened very quickly,” he said.
She was only 20 meters from the man at one point.
He said the attacker was stopped by construction workers, who hit him with a crutch.
The attack took place on Murrays Bay, on the north coast of Auckland. Credits: Chris McKeen / Stuff
“At this early stage we are still working to confirm the exact number and nature of the injuries,” a police spokesman said.
Another woman said the incident started in Murrays Bay and she moved to nearby Mairangi Bay.
“It simply came to our notice then. It all happened so fast. Ordinary people, and the police were there at the same time with big guns, and at that moment they have someone on the ground “, said Maria Paz Tapia.
National Police spokesman and MP Mark Mitchell said what had unfolded near a normally peaceful beach was “tragic”. Everyone should be able to get out “without fear of being attacked by a knife,” he added.
He could not comment on the details of the police investigation, but said it was a “complicated crime scene” with multiple locations.
St John New Zealand had previously said five people had been injured and four of them had been taken to Auckland Hospital.
East Coast Bays MP Erica Stanford said Murrays Bay was a small community that would feel the impact of the attack.