A truly alarming and devastating crime occurred on the streets of London on April 30 when a man wielding a sword attacked several individuals, including two police officers, tragically causing the death of a 14-year-old boy in the process.
The incident took place in the residential street of Laing Close in Hainault, North-East London, on Tuesday morning. Initially, the London Metropolitan Police released a statement to CBS News confirming that officers had been sent to deal with “a serious incident” involving “a man with a sword.” Eye witness footage of the man in question soon made its way onto social media.
The footage depicts a man with dark hair and beard dressed in a yellow hooded sweater and armed with a long bladed weapon. In this particular video, the man appears skittish as he attempts to hide from the authorities by moving around in someone’s front yard and hiding behind some bushes.
The exact number of people stabbed by the sword-wielding man, and their exact injuries, is unknown at this time, but what has been confirmed is that two police officers were among them and one young boy lost his life in the attack.
“It is with great sadness that I confirm that one of those injured in the incident, a 14-year-old boy, has died from their injuries. Taken to hospital after being stabbed and sadly died a short while after,” the Met Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell revealed in a statement to the press.
Was the sword-wielding killer caught?
From what we can gather, police arrived on the scene shortly after the man began his attack, but due to his choice of weapon, it was difficult for the officers to get near him safely without being maimed. This resulted in the criminal evading their custody for an indeterminate amount of time, during which he attacked others. Thankfully, the man was ultimately apprehended.
A video going viral captures the moment the police got the better of the criminal, as recorded by a door cam. Backed into a door, one brave policewoman, flanked by her fellow officers, incapacitates the man with a Taser, allowing the officers to surround him and arrest him.
Unfortunately, it sounds like there was a further incident after he was arrested and put into a police vehicle. The BBC reports that the man is now in hospital being “treated for injuries sustained when a vehicle he was in drove into a wall.” This means that he has yet to be interviewed. Nevertheless, police are confident there is no further reason to fear.
“We do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the wider community. We are not looking for more suspects,” said U.K. police official Ade Adelekan.
Perhaps in contrast to what we might have expected, current investigations have not found any prior contact between the man and the police, so it seems he does not have an established criminal record.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan took to social media to announce how he was “absolutely devastated” by the incident, however he also took the opportunity to praise the police officers who had apprehended the sword-wielding assailant and ended his attack.
“The police officers and emergency services showed the best of our city — running towards danger to protect others and I thank them from the bottom of our heart,” said Khan.
