Just before 7am on Tuesday, loud screams disrupted the calm of the Hainault suburb.
A grey transporter van had crashed into a home in Laing Close, where a “nice family” lived. One man approached to check on the driver, but was assaulted.
After the crash, a man in a yellow hoodie emerged, asking a woman for his whereabouts. As she responded, he drew a large knife from his pants and began his assault.
She sprinted away, passing a 14-year-old boy in PE attire, urging him to run too. Yet, the boy was struck by the knife and collapsed. Locals yelled and cursed at the assailant as others scrambled away in terror.
Surveillance footage captured a police car arriving just as the man, standing by the lifeless body, challenged the officers by shouting, “Does anyone here believe in God?”
As he resumed his violent spree, neighbors, including James Fernando, 39, rushed to the boy, trying to cover his head with a towel, though it was already too late.
“He turned around and was hit in the face… he died instantly,” Mr. Fernando recounted. “It’s deeply shocking. I keep picturing that boy’s face.”
One officer confronted the attacker. As he advanced with his samurai sword, she dodged and incapacitated him with CS spray.
In the footage, he is seen disoriented, cursing as he attempted to escape toward Hainault station. Additional videos captured him pursuing an ambulance while armed.
He hurdled over fences, entered homes, dashed through yards, and leaped across a garage roof, trying to elude the police.
An officer called out to the residents three times, pleading with them to lock their doors.
Robert Harrison, 71, alarmed by the screams, noticed the suspect outside his New North Road home.
“I saw him in his orange hoodie, yelling and making a scene,” he told The Independent. “He was visibly distressed, shouting and cursing as onlookers confronted him.”
“A lone policewoman tried to intercept him,” he added. “Her courage was remarkable. Despite criticism, her actions were commendable.”
“He lunged at her, and she responded with a spray. She was determined to prevent him from reaching the station.”
Ultimately, an officer armed with a Taser confronted the attacker by the doorway of an unsuspecting resident. The suspect, Tasered in a front yard, staggered to another house across the street.
A Ring doorbell recorded him raising the blade above his head, ready to strike, as an officer cautiously advanced with a Taser in a tense showdown.
He was quickly subdued and restrained by additional officers, then bound, handcuffed, and placed in a police van within 22 minutes of the initial police call.
The close-knit community is now assessing the damage from the ordeal.
A young woman, bypassing the police line and media, grieved the young neighbor she barely knew.
Crying, she lamented, “He’s gone. He lived across from me. I never really knew him, and now he’s gone.”
