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Police take a suspect into custody near the Countdown supermarket in Dunedin, New Zealand. OTD

Four stabbed in 'random' New Zealand knife attack

A man has since been taken into custody.

A KNIFE-WIELDING attacker has stabbed four people in a New Zealand supermarket, critically injuring three, in a rampage authorities said was “random” and not terror related.

Police said the attack – highly unusual in the normally peaceful South Pacific nation – occurred at a Countdown supermarket in the city of Dunedin at 2.30pm (3.30am Irish time) on Monday. A man has been taken into custody.

Witnesses told local media a man carrying two knives stabbed staff in the supermarket and bystanders who tried to stop him were also injured.

The most recent mass-casualty attack in New Zealand was the Christchurch mosques shootings in March 2019, when a white supremacist gunman murdered 51 Muslim worshippers and severely injured another 40.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her first question to police was whether the Dunedin attack had national security implications but they assured her it did not.

“At this stage, there’s nothing to suggest from the police’s perspective that this is what they would define as a domestic terror event,” she told reporters.

Southern police district commander Paul Basham characterised the incident as a “random attack” and said the perpetrator would face court on Tuesday.

Authorities initially reported five people were stabbed but later revised it down to four, with Basham saying the attacker received a minor injury during the incident.

He described the actions of those who stopped the man as “nothing short of heroic”, saying they had prevented more injuries.

Basham said three of the victims were due to undergo surgery overnight.

Countdown’s managing director Spencer Sonn said everyone at the supermarket chain was “shocked and devastated” by the attack.

New Zealand introduced tough gun laws in the wake of the Christchurch attack to limit access to firearms.

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    Mute Colm Phillips
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    May 10th 2021, 9:59 AM

    Rip.

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    Mute Paul Clancy
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    May 10th 2021, 10:02 AM

    @Colm Phillips: bit premature there.

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    Mute Colm Phillips
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    May 10th 2021, 10:54 AM

    @Paul Clancy: apologies, my mistake. I thought it said dead. Hope they make it.

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    Mute JillyBean
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    May 10th 2021, 11:01 AM

    This is what happens when theres no lockdown. #keeppubsclosed

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    Mute Sinead Merrigan
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    May 10th 2021, 11:45 AM

    @JillyBean: sorry bud, this is reality… The real world. Also there is nothing to suggest in any way this had anything to do with alcohol or consumption of alcohol

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    Mute JustMeHere
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    May 10th 2021, 11:15 AM

    @Bekoboy: disgusting comment.

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    Mute Pat Cbar
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    May 10th 2021, 7:18 PM

    I wonder will they ban knives after this one

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