‘Neighbours woken by screams’: How a 22 minute samurai sword attack turned Hainault into a bloodbath
It was just before 7am when loud screams woke the neighbourhood in the quiet suburb of Hainault on Tuesday morning.
A grey transporter van had collided with the home of a “nice family” in Laing Close. Fearing an accident had taken place, one man went over to see if the driver was ok before he was attacked.
Stumbling out of the crash, a man in a yellow hoody asked a woman for his location before she saw him pull a huge blade out of his trousers and launch his attack.
She turned and fled, running past a small 14-year-old schoolboy in his PE kit she urged him to run too. But he was caught by the swinging blade and fell to the ground. Locals shouted and swore at him while others fled in panic.
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Video footage showed a police car arrive before the man verbally confronted officers, shouting “Is there anybody here who believes in God?” while standing next to the motionless body.
As he moved away to continue his bloody rampage, neighbours including James Fernando, 39, ran towards the boy and attempted to wrap his head in towel but he said it was too late.
“As [the victim’s] turned around, he’s struck him on the face… he was dead on the spot,” Mr Fernando said. “It’s quite traumatising. I can’t stop seeing the boy’s face.”
One police officer took on the sword-wielding attacker. As he lunged toward her with the samurai sword she dodged and hit him in the face with a CS spray.
In video footage, he appeared to be temporarily blinded, swearing at himself as he tried to make a break for Hainault station. Further footage showed the suspect chasing after an ambulance while holding the weapon.
He clambered over fences, bursts into homes, runs through gardens, and sprinted across a garage roof in a bid to get away from pursuing officers.
One officer screamed out to residents three times and begged them to make sure their doors were locked.
Robert Harrison, 71, was woken by screaming when he saw the suspect walking past his house in New North Road.
He told The Independent: “I saw him walk right past in his orange hoody. There was something wrong with him he was shouting and hollering.
“He was really agitated shouting and swearing loads of people came out to have a go at him.
“There was a policewoman by herself trying to stop him,” he continued. “She was so brave. People criticise the police but she was amazing.
“He lunged towards her and she sprayed him with something. She was trying to stop him from getting to the train station.”
The attacker was finally cornered by one officer, armed only with a Taser by the front door of one unsuspecting local. The suspect was Tasered in a front garden but managed to stumble to another front door opposite.
Their Ring doorbell captured the moment he raised the blade high above his head in an attack stance as one officer bravely approached drawing their Taser in the tense stand-off.
Suddenly he was captured and dragged to the ground by the backup officers who piled on top of him.
Neighbours said he was tied up, handcuffed and carried into a police van in a plastic sheet 22 minutes after police received the first call.
The tight-knit neighbourhood has been left counting the cost of the rampage.
One young woman pushed through the police cordon, past the herd of reporters to mourn the loss of her young neighbour.
Through tears, she said: “He’s dead. He lived opposite me. I didn’t get to know him but now he’s dead.”
