A person has been critically injured at Auckland's New Windsor Dairy. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Police have arrested a man after a violent assault at an Auckland dairy this morning.
A 24-year-old was taken into custody after two people were injured about 10.30am, with a male victim needing treatment for critical injuries at Auckland City Hospital. The second person suffered moderate injuries.
Shoppers inside at the time of the attack stopped the offender and held him down, police said.
The hero bystanders then tended to both victims.
Detective Inspector Glen Baldwin of the Auckland City criminal investigation branch said police remained at the scene.
“Police are still in the early stages of determining the exact circumstances of what has occurred.”
Earlier, the brother of the person critically injured spoke to the Herald at the scene on New Windsor Rd, saying the man’s daughter had called him to say her father had been stabbed.
A bloodied woman female was also seen being led to a waiting ambulance.
Distraught family and friends have since arrived at the scene, with the woman’s son rushing straight to his mother in the back of the ambulance.
A police officer could be heard saying “I’m so sorry this has happened”.
Two bloody socks and a shoe can be seen on the ground outside the block of shops.
Chairman of the Dairy and Business Owners’ Group Sunny Kaushal said news of the attack was “heartbreaking”.
”We have already had deaths in our industry and we were fearing more violence because the government is failing to take any action. New Zealanders are sick and tired of the lawlessness.”
St John Ambulance said an ambulance and two rapid response vehicles were sent to the New Windsor dairy just after 10.30am.
A spokesperson said two people were taken to hospital, one in a moderate condition and the other critical.
A neighbour described the family who owns the dairy as really hard working.
”They’re cool and make us feel really at home.”
Another described the owners as “really friendly”.
A local businessman said he witnessed the aftermath of what happened, as a man attempted to run away from police before being apprehended about 10 metres from the New Windsor shops.
He said police asked him to close his shop and said he saw the man being taken away in a police car.
The owner of the nearby bakery has only had the shop for three weeks. He said he saw two police officers drag the man out.
Police have set up cordons at the top of the Maioro St and New Windsor Rd preventing traffic from travelling past the dairy.
The block of six shops and the entrance to New Windsor School has been cordoned off with police tape.
Four police officers are standing guard in front of the dairy while another officer has been stationed at the other end of the cordon.
The New Windsor dairy and Lotto shop was the target of another brutal attack in 2008 when a teenage boy allegedly stormed inside and stabbed the owner.
Shopkeeper Shashikant Prema was taken to Auckland City Hospital with stab wounds to his neck and back.
The attack left Prema with a punctured lung and nerve damage in his left arm.
He spoke to the Herald from his hospital bed, saying he thought he would have died had he not run out of the shop after being slashed from across the counter.
”I’m pretty lucky to be alive,” he said at the time.
The father of three said, “at the end of the day you just carry on - that’s our work, that’s our business”.
His wife, Damyanti Prema, who had been robbed at gunpoint in the past, said she initially wondered whether it was worth keeping the business after the attack in 2008.
But, like her husband, she said she would not let anyone victimise her again by selling up or living in fear.
”You are in fear, but you have to get over it,” she said at the time.
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