A man has been charged after allegedly stabbing four people in an attack in Murrays Bay, Auckland on Thursday.
The 41-year-old man has been charged with one count of assault and four counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He appeared via video link in Waitakere District Court on Friday. He was granted name suppresion and remanded in custody until next month.
Police say the man allegedly stabbed four people between Murrays Bay and Mairangi Bay before members of the public managed to apprehend him using a crutch.
Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan told media yesterday the stabbings were not a hate crime and the attack was random.
"I want to reassure the community that this was an isolated incident, the offender has been apprehended and he is in custody," she said on Thursday.
"This was a random attack, there's no indication it's a hate crime of any type. The victims were of different gender, ethnicity and age."
"This offender is a local person, he has been out in public and he has randomly stabbed four members of the public."
She also praised the members of the public who held up the offender, allowing police to arrest him.
"There were members of the public that acted in extreme bravery, they apprehended the offender and brought this incident to its conclusion," she said.
"Members of the public were following him and eventually one of them intervened as he approached Mairangi Bay."
'Pools of blood'
Several witnesses to the horrific attack shared their stories with Newshub on Thursday. Danelle Clayton was out walking on the beach when the attack unfolded.
"There was just a whole lot of police and ambulances and sirens going off. We saw a lady being tended to by ambulance staff in a bus stop and another lady being attended to on a park bench," Clayton said.
It began with a man allegedly stabbing the occupant of a house on Westbourne Road and then allegedly attacking members of the public.
The alleged stabber then made his way along the beach towards Mairangi Bay, still carrying a large knife and apparently still intent on doing harm.
"We walked from Murrays Bay to Mairangi Bay around the causeway and it must've been quite soon after the incident and there were some pools of blood along the way that you had to sort of step around, which wasn’t very nice," Clayton said.
Dianne Hilbron was out with a bunch of other mums and kids enjoying the morning in Mairangi Bay when the attack happened.
"Another man came and he had a big stick and he was quite panicked and said, 'Just grab your kids and run as fast as you can down the beach'," Hilbron said. "We just grabbed our kids and left everything behind and ran for it.
"It was really scary. The kids were really upset and they were crying and screaming. It was pretty scary."
Valeriya Mosheva locked herself in her car.
"I was having a cup of tea in my car. There was a person with a dog with a big piece of timber running around warning people to clear off," she said. "The girl jumped to the car next to showing me, 'Lock the car, lock the car'."
"He was supposedly pinned down by a construction worker over there by the water work thing and a guy with a crutch and held him down until the police came and then he was taken away in an ambulance I think," witness Damien Ellish said.
