Two people are in hospital after being stabbed in a rampage by a knife-wielding man who was later shot by police in Christchurch this morning.
A man is in a serious but stable condition with multiple stab wounds and a female delivery driver, who was kidnapped by the knifeman, has a stab wound to her shoulder. Both are in Christchurch Hospital.
The man's wife was by her husband's bedside and the woman is likely to be discharged today.
Eye-witnesses described seeing police pepper-spray, taser then shoot the 27-year-old knifeman in the suburb of Spreydon about 8am.
Bruce Cameron, 60, was waiting for a lift from Christchurch Tramping Club friends when he watched the scene unfold.
He saw a female police officer shoot the "wild man in the black hoodie'' after pepper-spraying and tasering him.
"I heard a car crash and I thought I could help with some first aid.
"I walked around the corner and saw a guy with a cut neck and a wild man in a black hoodie chasing him with knives.
"That's when ... this guy with a crowbar stepped in and was stopping the guy hurting anyone else. If it wasn't for him there would've been a lot more people hurt.
"He was challenging him with the crowbar. If he lives through the gunshot injuries, he's lucky the crowbar guy didn't get him _ he was really going for him.
"He was very brave, or stupidly brave, I'm not sure. I wouldn't take on someone with two knives.
"The lady had been stabbed in the shoulder. She was okay, adrenalin-hyped and then it hit her. The cops came a bit later and pepper sprayed him and that didn't do much so the female cop tasered him. He still wouldn't go down and when he started to advance on her, she shot him twice.''
Kelvin McElroy, 40, was on his way to use an ATM when he saw a car crash into a wall on Hoon Hay Rd.
"The driver got out with two knives. He went back up towards this truck which had pulled over. The truck driver saw the guy coming at him with knives and must have thought he needed to do something to protect himself. He got a steel bar and got out and confronted him.
"They had a go in the street. The truck driver hit him in the neck real hard with the steel bar but he didn't go down. He was trying to stab him, he was wild.
"Then a police car turned up. An officer told him to put the knives down but he wouldn't so the cop tasered him. He still didn't go down.
"The cop kept saying `put the knives down, put the knives down', but he wouldn't, and then he came towards the cop brandishing the knives.
"He must have been on drugs or something, he was so pumped up. He shot him twice _ bang bang _ once in the shoulder and once in the stomach.
"He went down and the cops took the knives away and started first aid. I couldn't believe my eyes.
"After that an older woman who was sitting beside the road came up and hugged him. I think he must have saved her from some road rage incident or something.
"The truck driver was very brave.''
The truck driver, who was thought to be in his mid 20s, left the scene with police officers. Before that he could be seen sitting and crying with his head in his hands.
At a news conference, Canterbury Police District commander Superintendent Dave Cliff said it appeared the knifeman rushed at police when confronted.
Officers armed with a Glock pistol fired two shots, one hitting the local man's shoulder and the other his wrist. He was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.
Mr Cliff said a police criminal inquiry is underway as well as an investigation by the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
From the information to hand, he said he believed his officers had acted correctly.
The scene, at the intersection of Hoon Hay and Halswell roads is cordoned off and is likely to remain closed for much of the day.
Police are still trying to piece together the events that led to the shooting.
But it appears they began just after 7am when the knifeman threatened a caretaker and teacher on the grounds of Redwood Primary, in the city's northern suburbs.
The pair locked themselves in a classroom as the man tried to get in.
"There were no children on site,'' said principal John Stackhouse.
"Obviously both staff members are upset and we've been speaking with them. They've been offered counselling and support.''
The caretaker called police but in the meantime the knifeman confronted a woman doing deliveries nearby and demanded that she drive him away from the area.
The vehicle reached Spreydon area, where there was a confrontation between the two and the woman was stabbed in the shoulder.
The man ran off and aggressively approaching other motorists with a knife. It's believed he repeatedly stabbed a man who worked for Christchurch City Council multiple times.
Another witness, who returned to his home on Lincoln Rd from his nightshift about 8am, saw a man bleeding badly outside about five minutes later.
"He was about 60 and in a real bad way, blood everywhere, congealing on the footpath,'' said the man, who did not want to be named.
"A cyclist and a woman in a car stopped and helped him. They put him in the front seat of her car and then the back seat.
"They were getting really agitated with time ambulance was taking. He was bleeding to death I reckon. He was unconscious.
"When the ambulance cane he got in with him and dumped his bike and helmet over my fence. Something seriously major has gone down.''
Mr Cliff said it was not believed either of the victims had any connection to the knifeman, or to Redwood Primary, which is likely to remain closed for the rest of today.
He appealed for witnesses to come forward.
