Muslim convert tasered by police was heard chanting that he wanted to kill non-Muslims before trying to kill policemen and firefighters in knife rampage The 26-year-old launched his attack on Falcon Road in Battersea, London Was armed with four blades and tried to smash a house with an iron bar Hours earlier the man had been seen making threats ‘to kill Kuffars He was arrested on suspicion of trying to kill a police officer Police could not confirm how many times he had been tasered A Muslim convert was heard chanting that he wanted to kill non-Muslims hours before going on a knife rampage and trying to kill a police officer and firefighters. The man was tasered multiple times and arrested on suspicion of trying to kill a police officer after launching his attack in broad daylight on a busy London street. Police were called around midday when the knifeman armed with four blades attempted to smash his way into a neighbours’ property with an iron bar. Terrifying: Officers chased the subject down Falcon Road in Battersea, south-west London Hours earlier the man had been seen reciting verses from the Koran and making threats ‘to kill Kuffars’. Firefighters based at the nearby fire station in Battersea, South London confronted the 26-year-old on seeing him throw bottles at neighbours and threatening passers-by with kitchen knives. But the suspect went berserk chasing the fire officers back to the fire station, where he attempted to batter down the doors. Within minutes, more than 20 police officers had arrived at the scene blocking off the road as the suspect sprinted up and down smashing police car windows and screaming abuse. Chanting: The man was tasered multiple times by police after launching his attack in broad daylight on a busy London street Terrified onlookers cowered in local shops as police tried to contain the armed suspect using a Taser. Servet Kaplan, 22, a store manager at Battersea Food & Wine, said ‘People were trying to get into my store. ‘There were so many they wouldn’t fit through the door. ‘I saw the police Taser the man and it didn’t affect him at all, he just carried on running.’ After 20 minutes, officers managed to overpower the man who continued to lash out injuring one officer who received minor cuts to his hands. The suspect was later taken to a south London hospital with minor injuries caused by the Taser device. The man known locally as Michael is thought to have been released from Springfield Mental Hospital in nearby Tooting two years ago. Gyare Patrick, 66, who lives below the suspect, said: ‘He has always been trouble ever since he got here from Springfield two years ago. ‘He has always ranted and raved, swearing and shouting, ever since he got here. ‘But in the last three months he has started chanting in Arabic. ‘He has mental health problems. Today he was chanting kill kuffars and I’m going to Medina, which means kill non-believers and I’m going to heaven. ‘I didn’t take any notice of it because when you live downstairs from someone like that you become immune to it. ‘Then I heard a piercing scream come from upstairs, a woman’s scream. ‘I went outside and saw him smashing an iron bar into his neighbours window. She’s only a young girl so I was like “hey what you doing”. ‘Two from the fire brigade then arrived and they said “watch out,” that’s when the bottle came flying towards my head, just missing me. ‘The cops turned up and he just went at them, smashing the windows of their cars. ‘They got out of the cars and just ran, he was carrying a knife, they did not want to engage him. ‘He ran after them. He chased this one cop down Falcon Road. A couple of the rest of them chased after him. ‘I heard later that they got him on a road just off Falcon Road. They Tasered him.’ Last night the suspect was being held on suspicion of the attempted murder of a police officer. Chief Superintendent Paul McGregor said: ‘Upwards of 20 police officers arrived on the scene within minutes of the initial call. There were a considerable amount of people around. The incident bought the place to a standstill. ‘The suspect attempted to attack a fire station and fire officers. We do not know about the damage to the fire station at this stage. The suspect was attacking vehicles with knives. ‘We contained him by use of vehicles, boxing in his access.’ He added: ‘This is a really good example of how important an effective Taser use can be, in the right circumstances. People would have been seriously injured otherwise. It was very frightening for people locally. Initial reports from Scotland Yard suggested the man had only been struck once by a Taser. But last night it emerged that he had been Tasered multiple times. A police spokesman was unable to confirm the number of times that the device was used on the armed suspect.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 21:45:40 +0000
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