Man allegedly attacks 7 including 6-year-old girl, gets pinned down by passers-by before arrest

The 20-year-old man who allegedly attacked seven people in Queenstown was detained by members of the public before the police arrived and arrested him.

The man allegedly injured his victims with a knife, a chopper and his bare hands, said the police.

The Straits Times understands that on Feb 3, the man allegedly attacked his first victim, a 45-year-old Chinese lady, near Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, but she did not call for police assistance.

The second and third victims were subsequently attacked at the first-floor lift lobby of a nearby Housing Board block.

The police said the suspect then fled to the vicinity of the hawker centre, where he allegedly attacked his fourth victim.

After that, he headed towards the Alexandra Canal park connector, where the fifth, sixth and seventh victims were attacked.

The police received a call at about 7.05pm about a man holding a chopper running towards 301 Commonwealth Avenue, which is the address of the Commonwealth MRT station.

Police arrived at the location within eight minutes of the call and arrested the man about 400m away at 1 Dundee Road, which is the address of the Queens Peak condominium

The arrest was made with the assistance of members of the public who had earlier detained the man at 7.18pm.

Two men, aged 76 and 40, and a 6-year-old girl, who sustained minor injuries, were conscious when taken to the hospital, where they received outpatient treatment.

Another three men, aged 54, 21 and 20, and a 45-year-old woman sustained minor injuries and declined further medical assistance.

The three members of the public, Mr Mok Kwong Heng, Mr Gangatharan Saravanan and Mr Emmanuel Ee Wei Chuan, were presented with the Public Spiritedness Award for their courage and public-spiritedness in detaining the man before the arrival of the police.

Mr Mok Kwong Heng, Mr Emmanuel Ee and Mr Gangatharan Saravanan were presented with the Public Spiritedness Award by AC Serene Chiu.

Mr Ee told The Straits Times that the man was wearing a mask and looked confused.

“He was brisk walking, so we were brisk walking behind him,” he said. “He had a cleaver, so we didn’t want to get too close, but we didn’t want to lose him in case he did speed up and run.”

Mr Mok, a cleaner at Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, noted: “It was quite lucky there was a downpour earlier. Otherwise, there would have been more people walking or cycling.”

He was heading for a Chinese New Year reunion dinner at a community centre, with the chairman of the Hawker Association of Margaret Drive and several stall owners from the hawker centre, when he saw a group of people running towards them and shouting. The suspect, who was armed with a chopper, was among them.

“The attacker swung the chopper at us. I tried to push the chairman away, but it was too late. He got chopped on the back of his head.”

Mr Mok said: “We shouted at him, and as he ran towards Queenstown MRT station, we kept chasing him. I stopped to call the police so that we could get reinforcements to stop him.”

He added that after running towards the station, the suspect suddenly turned back and ran towards the park connector.

The group kept up the chase before cornering him at a guard post at Queens Peak Condominium in Dundee Road.

Mr Mok said: “We couldn’t manage to hold him down. As we approached him, he kept swinging his chopper at us. So I picked up a pole that was supporting the branches of a tree and asked him to put down his weapon, otherwise we would hit him.

“But he didn’t obey our orders, so I hit him on his head.”

Asked if the five men pinned the suspect down, Mr Mok said three of them did so. “If the five of us pinned him down, I think he will become a 'ham chim peng' (deep-fried Chinese doughnut).”

Commander of Clementi Police Division, Assistant Commissioner of Police Serene Chiu said: “Their bravery and intervention stopped the actions of the offender from causing further harm to the public."

Preliminary investigations revealed that the man had acted alone and there were no indications to suggest that the incident was an act of terror. He also did not have any criminal records.

He will be charged in court on Feb 5 for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons, an offence which carries an imprisonment term of up to seven years, a fine, caning, or any combination of such punishments.

A court order will be sought for the man to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric assessment.