After he ‘wrench it’ from both a motorcyclist, and pillion-wielding motorcycle rider, a man ran with a machete. The pair chased him with a hammer in front of a London Tube station.
The chaotic incident, thought to be an attempted robbery, happened around 6.20pm on London Road, outside Elephant and Castle Underground station, and was captured on video by onlookers.
MailOnline was told by a witness that he thought he would see someone go to their death. “It was one the worst things that I have ever seen.”
One video shows a man wearing a helmet with motorcycle and a purple-printed jacket sprinting down the street while he holds a machete in one hand. A motorbike thought to belong to him is on its side, in front of another car.
Two people riding a scooter approach the man and he runs on the pavement. They make a U-turn at the center of the road and the passenger is seen holding a hammer.
It comes as Amir Khan launched a stinging attack on London Mayor Sadiq Khan for failing to tackle violent crime and making the city ‘unliveable.’
The former world champion boxer, 35, has abandoned plans to move to London with his family after being robbed of his £72,000 luxury watch at gunpoint while out with his wife in the capital on Monday.
Responding to Mr Khan, a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said that crime ‘continues to fall in London, bucking the national trend’.
They stated: Knife crime and injury [is]This has resulted in a decrease of 12 percentage points, 29% gun crime and 22% burglary since May 2016.
London has seen 24 murder victims since January 1.
One video shows a man wearing a purple jacket and motorcycle helmet sprinting down the streets while holding a machete. A motorbike thought to belong to him is on its side, in front of another car.
The man races across the streets in front of a bus, and then on to the pavement. His motorbike is still in the road.
The two men riding on a moped approach him, the passenger holding a hammer.
As the passenger pulls the hammer close to his sides, the pair steer in the middle of the road and make a U-turn, driving in the opposite direction.
Both the passenger with a hammer and the driver of a moped go wrong down the street, and then enter the bus lane.
MailOnline received a witness who was in her 30s and said that the two were trying take the motorbike away from the man wearing the purple jacket.
After they attempted to steal his bike, she said the man wearing the purple jacket had ‘wrestled’ the knife from them.
She stated, “It’s really horrible…that knife is insane. It’s got some reach.”
“I was returning to Elephant and Castle when I felt something wasn’t right. One bike was on the ground, the other facing the wrong direction.
‘I was walking along with my aunt, and I said “that man’s got a knife”, I could see that long blade… I thought that I would see someone die.
She was from Gloucestershire and said: “I live in the country… It was the most awful thing that I had ever seen. All I need is to get back in the countryside.
Witnesses claimed that the motorcyclist was trying to ride back on his motorcycle, but that he was being “chased” by the two riders riding the moped.
After grabbing the blade, he returned with the hammer.
Witness standing in a circle said that she had protected a younger girl from the elements, and encouraged her not to stare.
Now holding the knife, the motorcyclist ran along the road and was pursued by the couple again. They then made a U turn in the road and drove off.
The witness stated that as the pair made their way to leave, they crashed and landed on the floor. It prompted a roar of applause from nearby witnesses.
The motorcyclist wearing purple drives away after the accident, and is then helped onto his motorcycle.
The woman claimed that the vehicle’s driver, the one pictured in white with black pants and jacket, exited his car. She then took the knife from a motorcyclist.
She said, “He gave it to the security counter in the tube.”
According to the witness, she was not able to see any faces and thinks it wasn’t a gang activity, but rather an attempt at motorcycle robbery.
A second video shows the two witnesses helping the purple-jacketed man back on his motorcycle in the middle of traffic.
The clip features another man, wearing white pants and black trousers, who takes the machete and points it at the ground.
The purple-clad motorcyclist is seen leaving the scene and passing by a bus.
South East London: Teenage girl shot
After a teenager girl was shot and killed in South East London yesterday morning, police launched an investigation.
At 3am, Armed Police were dispatched to Lucas Street, Lewisham. There they discovered a wounded woman with a gunshot injury.
London Ambulance Service was quick to transport her to the hospital.
According to the Metropolitan Police, there are a lot of crime scenes and no arrests have yet been made.
Local residents claimed that they heard five shots and some screaming from a female in the vicinity at 3am.
Metropolitan Police spokesmen said that many bullet casings had been found and were being sent for expert analysis.
The scene is being searched by the forensics, who are seated in an abandoned black Mercedes within the police perimeter.
At the intersection between Lewisham Way & Lucas Street, you will see the black Mercedes.
Photo taken by a forensics officer in Lewisham (South East London), April 23, 2022
Witnesses described the scene as “scary” and claimed that they saw the entire thing from inside one of the bus parked outside.
Twitter user commenting on the video said that the streets of London were no longer paved in gold but only reddened by the daily bloodshed from knife crime.
Another described it as ‘@SadiqKhan ‘s Lawless London!’, with another describing the city as a ‘S***hole’.
Replying to the video on Twitter, Chief Superintendent Roy Smith from New Scotland Yard thanked onlookers for capturing the ‘helpful’ footage.
He said, “This must have been frightening for those around.” I’ve tagged @MetCC so that we can get this recorded and the images passed to @MPSSouthwark for investigation.’
Later, he retweeted and added: “This is precisely the kind of footage that is useful for police.
‘When it’s too dangerous to intervene (like this) please call 999 and then capture as much evidence as possible (vehicles, faces, clothes) so that colleagues can help.’
Metropolitan Police spokesmen said that while officers arrived quickly at the scene, those responsible had fled on their mopeds. Investigations are ongoing after they recovered the machete.
This comes just as Amir Khan claimed he was in genuine fear for his own life during Monday’s East London robbery.
Masked attackers stabbed him in the face and stole his Franck Muller Vanguard Chronograph Watch. He fled while Faryal Makhdoom (his wife), watched.
MailOnline reported that he was unsure if he would like to live in London again for any reason. This is not the right place for my family.
‘My intention was to go to London in May with Faryal and my children, but it hasn’t happened.
London isn’t a city I want to be. We are not moving there. Our plans to move there are not going through. We will continue living in Bolton, and visiting Dubai.
He turned his attention to Sadiq Khan in London, and he screamed: ‘Mayor Khan should pull his finger out to tackle knife- and gun crime. It’s becoming a disaster. It’s impossible to drive, the traffic is terrible and you don’t have a quality of life.
“It is disgusting to see what’s happening in London, and the things that happened to me. Sadiq Khan does a horrible job, and there is a huge rise in knife and gun crime under his supervision. It is completely disgraceful.
He said, “You wouldn’t be surprised to see your bank robbed at gunpoint in London.” It is heartbreaking to witness the violence in this city. From all parts of the globe, people have been reaching out to me to inform me they no longer feel comfortable visiting London. Mayor Khan, the authorities need to take action.
London’s Mayor spokeswoman said that London crime is ‘continuing to drop’, which was contrary to the national trend.
“But there is still a lot to be done,” they stated. The Mayor of London’s top priority is to keep Londonians safe. He’s taking tough action against crime as well as the causes.
“He has invested record amounts in police, put 1300 more officers on the street, and funded programmes that provide positive opportunities for young Londoners.