Man dramatically arrested following stabbing spree in Sydney's CBD
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Aug 14, 2019
"Three members of the public, who can only be described as heroes of the highest order, have engaged this 21-year-old man and have placed him essentially under arrest even though he was brandishing a large butchers knife and was clearly risky", he told reporters on Tuesday night.
The unidentified man had also tried unsuccessfully to stab other people, police said, in an incident that brought the central business district in Australia's largest city to a standstill.
An eye witness caught Ney jumping on a auto and yelling "Allahu Akbar" and "shoot me" after the fell off the moving vehicle. "He pursued him the hardest and managed to get a grip of him with another man", Mr Cuthbert told the publication.
"To approach a person with a mindset of obviously what this person [had], with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes".
"And I want to acknowledge those people, those members of the public who got involved".
Paul O'Shaughnessy, 37, said his brother Luke, 30, saw a man with a balaclava wielding a knife.
Mert Ney is held down and searched by police following a stabbing rampage in Sydney's CBD.
The dead woman was found inside a Clarence Street apartment, allegedly with her throat slit, after the knifeman was subdued by heroic bystanders about 2pm using chairs and milk crates in Wynyard Street after attempting to stab multiple people. They are courageous, and I can only use that word seriously.
The members of the public used plastic chairs from nearby cafes and a plastic crate to subdue the man.
"They were significantly courageous people", Supt Wood told reporters.
Police said the wounded woman was stable and there were no immediate reports of other injuries, despite "a number of attempted stabbings by the same offender".
"The male offender was on his own and there was no other person complicit at this stage".
As the man lay restrained on the ground, Walker filmed a bottle of pills next to him, labelled Antenex.
Reuters quotes Police Superintendent Gavin Wood as telling reporters in Sydney the woman was stabbed in the back but her wounds weren't life-threatening and that the attack seemed to be unprovoked.
Three members of the public who detained the attacker were "highest order heroes", the commissioner concluded.
The man is seen standing on a auto at one point.
Police added: "It is believed there is no further threat to public safety".
The woman was taken out of the Hotel CBD and placed into an ambulance.
"Our thoughts are with all of those who have been impacted by this violent attack".
