Two shots finally fell knifeman on rampage
AN ORDINARY weekday morning in suburban Christchurch became a scene of violence and bloodshed as a knife-wielding man went on a rampage before being shot by police.
Two people were stabbed, including a delivery driver taken hostage by the man in her truck yesterday morning and a Christchurch City Council worker who is in a serious but stable condition in Christchurch Hospital.
The food delivery driver, Marteine Robin, 36, was last night recovering at home after the stab wound in her shoulder was stitched.
The attacker’s 90-minute path of violence across the city was ended by two gunshots as he continued to approach police in suburban Hoon Hay where he had confronted morning commuters and stabbed the council worker.
The man, 27, originally from Somalia, had surgery for gunshot wounds to his wrist and shoulder and was under police guard in hospital last night. He has yet to be charged. Among passers-by who played a crucial role in preventing more casualties was a construction worker who fought the knifeman with a crowbar, and a woman and a cyclist who helped the stabbed council worker into a car and staunched the flow of blood.
The drama started at Redwood School in northern Christchurch about 6.30am when the school caretaker was threatened with a knife after finding a man on the school grounds.
Police said the caretaker and teacher locked themselves in a classroom and the man tried to gain entry.
The man kidnapped Ms Robin, an employee of Goodtime Foods, who was delivering pies to the school.
She was forced to drive towards Halswell, but the light truck stopped in morning commuter traffic at the corner of Hoon Hay Rd and Halswell Rd about 8am. She was stabbed by the man in the shoulder before escaping the truck.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene as a bleeding Robin screamed for help, while the man aggressively confronted other motorists in the line of traffic at the busy intersection.
The city council worker, in his 50s who has not been identified at his family’s request, was in a council car on the way to an appointment when he was stabbed repeatedly. The council car crashed into a concrete wall before the attacker got out, still armed, witnesses said.
Eyewitness Bruce Cameron, 60, was in Hoon Hay Rd waiting for a lift from a friend when he saw a truck pull over suddenly.
‘‘I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary until I saw a woman get out and she had blood all over her,’’ he said.
‘‘A guy got out too and started running up the road . . . he had these two knives . . . I had no idea what was going on. There was an- other man bleeding and were screaming,’’ he said.
‘‘The guy with the knives was going crazy then this guy from an Armitage truck got out with a crow bar.
‘‘He was trying to fend the man off and keep him away from the woman by the looks of things.
‘‘It was lucky the cops turned
people up because worse.
‘‘The police used pepper spray, they Tasered him but nothing and then they shot him twice.’’
Police Assistant Commissioner Dave Cliff said a criminal investigation was under way and two inquiries would be carried out into the shooting.
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