How the fatal Hainault attack unfolded – what videos and witnesses tell us

1 May 2024, 12:56 | Updated: 1 May 2024, 19:09

Officers say the suspect in the fatal sword attack in east London that left 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin dead was detained 22 minutes after the first call to police.

Using videos and eyewitness accounts, Sky News has pieced together the attacker's movements across the Hainault neighbourhood to show how the incident unfolded.

Four others were injured in the attack, including police officers who suffered "horrifically serious injuries", before the suspect was Tasered and arrested on Tuesday morning.

6.50am

Doorbell footage captures the 36-year-old suspect crashing a van at around 6.50am into a fence on the corner of Laing Close, which is just over 150m from Hainault Underground Station.

The suspect, wearing a yellow hoodie, appears to have hit a pedestrian and, moments later, gets out the van.

The ring device video timestamp marks the crash as occurring at 6.51am.

Neighbours begin to wake up to screaming and shouting outside.

Teenager attacked

The suspect is then seen at the top of Laing Close, where witnesses say the teenager was stabbed.

In subsequent aerial footage, the damaged Ford Transit van can be seen in the car park with its back doors open.

Witness James Fernando, 39, says he saw the suspect trying to speak to another neighbour before pulling out a "samurai sword from the back of his trousers".

The neighbour shouts to Daniel Anjorin, who is on his way to school, to warn him.

Mr Fernando says the assailant then struck him in the face.

Footage seen by Sky News shows the suspect next to a body lying on the ground. The exact time the teenager was attacked is unclear.

Stand-off with police

In a later video the suspect is seen in the same area in a stand-off with a police officer while carrying the large sword.

A witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Sky News the suspect ran behind the car park and down an alley before "stabbing a police officer".

The suspect is next seen ducking underneath a window outside a house as police and bystanders try to approach him.

An image outside the same house obtained by Sky News shows the attacker holding the weapon, which is around a foot long.

The next time the suspect is seen on video, he is walking down New North Road.

As a police car follows him he turns on to Franklyn Gardens, a road which runs parallel to Laing Close, where the teenager and an officer were stabbed.

'Lock your doors'

A witness then captures police officers chasing the suspect through a residential car park before he escapes through a door and reappears on the roof of a garden structure nearby.

One person is heard shouting "lock your doors" to residents.

Another witness then described seeing the attacker appear on Thurlow Gardens from a side street of a nearby house, under 50 metres from where the suspect had been seen on the garden structure.

Chris Bates says he saw the attacker with a "samurai sword" run down the road before police "jumped on" him.

Police Taser suspect

Doorbell footage captures the suspect being cornered and Tasered in a residential driveway.

The video timestamp suggests he was arrested at 7.14am.

Multiple officers approach him as police sirens go off and an officer shouts: "Don't move!"

Eventually the suspect falls to the floor and other officers shout: "Stay down, stay down and don't move!" They then declare: "Suspect contained".

Daniel's family told Sky News he was "a wonderful child" and his death "leaves a gaping wound in the family".

Four other people were injured in the attack - two Met officers who suffered wounds that require surgery, but are not life-threatening, and two members of the public whose injuries are also not thought to be life-threatening.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said one of the officers injured in the rampage nearly lost her hand while apprehending the suspect.

Police say the suspect has not yet been interviewed because of his injuries.

The MP for Ilford North, Wes Streeting, said he is "devastated" about the attack, while Buckingham Palace, the prime minister and other officials also paid tribute to the victims.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.