A man has been arrested after five people were injured in a stabbing near a supermarket in Croydon, south London, the Metropolitan police said.
Police and other emergency services were called to a Sainsbury’s and Argos distribution centre at Marlowe Way on the Beddington trading estate on Thursday morning after reports of a stabbing.
Five people were treated for injuries at the scene by the London ambulance service.
Joseph Denton, 29, who was at the distribution centre at the time of the incident, described how he and members of staff had barricaded themselves inside an office while a man with a knife lashed out.
“He didn’t say a word. He stabbed two people in the chest, one had a big gash in his arm. I think someone [was stabbed] in the side as well,” he said.
“We locked ourselves in the office. He was banging on the door. Then we heard shouting and stuff so we opened the door because it sounded like he was getting murdered.
“At which point he sprinted back at me. I couldn’t shut it in time so he got halfway through the door and he was stabbing at my neck and chest like this and I was deflecting it. I managed to grab his wrist and that was when he sliced my finger open.
“Then I punched him, I tried to headbutt him. I pushed him out the door and squashed his ankle with the door. I picked up a fire extinguisher and hit him around the head with it,” said Denton, from Rayleigh in Essex, who had a bandage around a finger. “There was women in the room behind us so if I wasn’t there he would have got through to them.”
One of those injured was taken to a major trauma centre in London and four other people were taken to hospital, according to the ambulance service.
A 54-year-old man who was taken to hospital had sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the Metropolitan police said. The force confirmed a man had been arrested.
Images from the scene showed a cordon around a Sainsbury’s and Argos distribution centre, with emergency services outside.
A London ambulance spokesperson said: “We were called at 10.21am this morning to reports of a stabbing incident in Marlowe Way, Croydon.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car, an incident response officer, members of our tactical response unit and London’s air ambulance.
“Our crews treated five patients at the scene, before taking one to a London major trauma centre and four to other hospitals.”
