SINGAPORE – The three men who helped to subdue a chopper-wielding man who allegedly injured seven people in the Commonwealth area on Feb 3 sprang into action out of concern for public safety, despite it being their first encounter with such an attack.

A 20 year-old man was arrested on Feb 3 for suspected involvement in a case of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons. The police said he had allegedly attacked seven people with a knife, a chopper and his bare hands.

On Feb 4, Mr Mok Kwong Heng, 61, Mr Gangatharan Saravanan, 28, and Mr Emmanuel Ee, 21, were given the Public Spiritedness Award for helping to detain the suspect before the police arrived.

Mr Ee, one of five members of the public who helped to detain the suspect, was cycling in the area on Feb 3, and was also one of the seven victims.

Asked why he had intervened, he said at a press conference on Feb 4: “There were a lot of people, especially along the (Alexandra Canal) park connector, and they were not aware he had a chopper in hand... I heard there were kids there. We had to prevent him from hurting the kids.”

Mr Ee said the suspect had allegedly told a security guard at Queens Peak Condominium in Dundee Road before he was pinned down that he was being chased. “We had poles and chairs, so it looked like we were the aggressors... We told him to drop the weapon and we will drop ours. Eventually, he did, reluctantly.”

Mr Gangatharan said he was on his way to Sheng Siong supermarket when he heard people shouting, and saw the suspect with a chopper chasing people.

“As soon as he passed me, I started following him. Then more people started to join the chase... (The suspect) knew there were people chasing him, but he couldn’t run fast because the ground was wet (after an earlier downpour) and he was slipping.

“I was concerned because there were children, people with strollers and the elderly at the park connector. As we chased him, we were asking the public to move away.”

Asked if he was afraid, Mr Mok said: “We are NS-trained, so we are not afraid. Our priority was to subdue him and ask passers-by to run away from him.”

Mr Mok added that the attacker hit him with the chopper. “But luckily, the chopper was not sharp,” he said.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.