Minute-by-minute accounts of horrified residents during Hainault sword rampage

Emergency services at the scene in Hainault Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

More details have been confirmed by police about how the fatal sword attack in east London unfolded. The horror began when a man crashed a van into a fence in Laing Close, Hainault just before 7am, hitting a 33-year-old, before stabbing him in the neck. Residents described "a huge commotion" and hearing shouts and screams. The swordman then attacked a 35-year-old man in a nearby home, leaving him with injuries to his arm. Witnesses described the suspect talking to a woman and asking her to confirm his location to someone on the phone, before she saw the sword and fled.

Residents reported hearing screaming and shouting Credit: Jordan Pettitt/PA

James Fernando, 39, said: "She's realised something isn't right, started running and he's pulled a samurai sword from the back of his trousers. "She's shouted to the other neighbour - a Nigerian boy who was on his way to school." It was then that the attacker fatally wounded 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin. Mr Fernando said the suspected killer was running around looking for more victims. As police officers raced to stop him, arriving 12 minutes after the first 999 call, they tried to use incapacitant spray and Tasers but both had little effect, the Metropolitan Police said. The suspect went on to seriously injure two police officers, both of whom required surgery on Tuesday and remain in hospital.

(PA Graphics) Credit: PA Graphics

One female officer suffered severe injuries to her arm and nearly lost a hand, while a male colleague suffered serious wounds to his hand. One woman who lives nearby said: "We were very scared and trying to hide and not show ourselves through the window because he was standing right next to our house and he could have seen us if he looked up. "We were trying to hide but also at the same time taking video of him attacking the police, and of the body on the floor, so, yeah, we were very scared and we didn't know what to do."

Police and forensic investigators at the scene Credit: Jordan Pettitt/PA

The suspect then fled again, with terrified witnesses hiding as he climbed over garden fences. Other officers surrounded him in Thurlow Gardens and managed to use Taser to overpower him.

Dramatic footage captured the suspect, still brandishing the sword, being cornered and tasered by officers on a residential driveway. The video shows how officers shout at the suspect, saying "Don't move, don't ******* move" after he's brought to the ground by three separate Taser discharges. He was arrested and taken to hospital for injuries caused when he crashed the van.

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