32-year-old man with knives & chopper allegedly attacked residents singing in Boon Lay void deck
A relaxed event at a Boon Lay void deck turned bloody when a man armed with knives and a chopper allegedly attacked residents, reported Shin Min Daily News.
The incident at Block 188 Boon Lay Drive resulted in one man being sent to the hospital.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Man purportedly stared at group of residents
A 62-year-old female resident named Latifah told the Chinese daily that on Saturday (6 Dec) evening, she was sitting with a group of neighbours outside her flat on the first floor, drinking and singing karaoke.
A tall man and a woman stood nearby, waiting for a car.
Someone noticed that the man had been staring at them, but they did not bother about it as they did not know him.
Man returns with knives, allegedly wounds Boon Lay resident
But about 10 minutes later, the man returned, allegedly bearing weapons, and started shouting at the group.
“He was carrying two knives in his left hand and a chopper in his right,” Latifah said.
He then questioned her four male friends, becoming more agitated.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Suddenly, he allegedly swung a knife at one of her friends, stabbing him in the back.
This prompted her friend to pick up a plastic chair in self-defence, but he ended up being slashed a few more times on his arm and forehead, Latifah added.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
She quickly called the police and tried to press down on her friend’s wounds with tissues.
Man fled after police was called
Another resident who was there, a 53-year-old private-hire driver named Danny, said he grabbed a clothes pole to chase after the alleged assailant.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
However, when the man heard them call the police, he dropped the weapons and fled.
Danny said the man had accused the group of talking about him behind his back and tried to challenge some male residents to fight him one-on-one.
They had tried to explain to him that nobody had talked about him, but he refused to listen and kept on telling them to get their weapons to fight with him.
Another resident reportedly even offered to apologise to him for any misunderstanding, but he did not accept this.
Man disappeared near Block 238
After fleeing, the man is understood to have run across several blocks before disappearing near Block 238 Boon Lay Drive, some 550m away.
An employee of a convenience store in Block 238 said a man believed to be the assailant entered the store with blood on his face.
He then took a bottle of mineral water and left without paying, despite the employee reminding him.
The employee did not dare to stop him when he saw a chopper fall out of his backpack.
The man then ran towards the main road, said a coffeeshop worker who saw him.
Police search the scene with dogs
Later, residents observed a large number of police officers deployed to the scene, including armed Emergency Response Team (ERT) officers.
Seven or eight officers were also seen with police dogs, believed to be searching for traces of the man.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Some of them were believed to be measuring the length of a knife, according to Shin Min.
The police left with several bags of evidence at about 10.30pm, after about four hours of investigations.
58-year-old sent to the hospital
In response to queries from MS News, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said it received several calls for assistance at about 6.55pm on 6 Dec.
When officers arrived at Block 188, they found a 58-year-old man injured in the void deck.
He was sent to the hospital in a conscious state.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which was alerted at about 7.05pm, told MS News that he was conveyed to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.
The injured man is now in stable condition, Danny said.
32-year-old suspect identified
Through follow-up investigations, SPF subsequently identified a 32-year-old man who is believed to be involved in the case.
Officers seized two knives and a chopper at the scene as case exhibits.
Efforts to trace his whereabouts are ongoing.
Police investigations are also ongoing.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.
