Man who died on Forest Lodge street was slashed with samurai sword
DETECTIVES removed an object at least a metre in length from a scene near where a young man died in a Sydney street after being slashed with a samurai sword by people police sources say he knew.
NSW
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A MAN was slashed with a samurai sword and bled to death in the middle of a quiet street in horrific scenes in leafy inner west Forest Lodge yesterday.
Suffering severe head wounds, the victim left a trail of blood as he staggered more than 100m down Hereford St before collapsing across double white lines near the intersection with Minogue Crescent — just a block from the local primary school.
The grisly trail led back to a blood-smeared car, near where witnesses said they heard a loud argument and a woman scream “get the f… away from me” a few minutes earlier.
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Police officers found a replica pistol lying in the gutter near the man’s body, which lay in the road for hours covered by a white blanket as forensic officers scoured the area. Sources later confirmed the murder weapon was a sword. Police immediately launched a hunt for a man and woman seen fleeing the scene at 12.40pm and officers wearing body armour used a battering ram to storm a home in Hereford St, near where the bloody car was located, about 2pm.
Just before 11pm detectives were seen carrying more than 10 oddly shaped evidence bags — including three long objects, one being at least a metre in length — in the same area that they had conducted the battering ram search.
The incident forced authorities to close nearby Forest Lodge Public School but fortunately students were away at a sports carnival for the day. Frantic witnesses phoned Triple 0 after seeing the man covered in blood staggering down the street.
“There was a guy just lying in the middle of the road with blood coming from his head,” one witness told reporters.
“I thought it was just a head injury from a car, but heard the policeman saying, ‘Oh there’s an active shooter,’ or something.”
Another man said he heard the woman yelling.
“We heard a woman walking down the street yelling words to the effect of ‘get the f… away from me.’ She went down towards The Crescent. Shortly after, that about three minutes later, we heard police sirens,” he said.
The Department of Education made arrangements for students from the local school to be taken to nearby Glebe Public School to be picked up. A sign posted on the school’s gate said simply told parents there had been an “incident” but families soon learnt what had occurred. Shocked neighbours popped their heads out of expensive terrace houses as the police operation unfolded.
Acting Superintendent Sam Crisafulli said the victim’s injuries were too serious for him to have stood a chance and he was pronounced dead at the scene as soon as paramedics arrived.
“It’s not pleasant; it’s not what we want to happen. It was a violent attack with very, very serious consequences.” Acting Superintendent Crisafulli said.
“I’m not in a position to talk about exactly what weapons were involved. I’m satisfied after a search of the area by police; the people we’re looking for are not around at the moment.”
The man’s body was removed from the scene by 6pm.
Resident Christine Asmar, who lives directly opposite where the shooting took place, said she was shaken by the violence. right outside her door.
“It’s a family area — I was home with my three-year-old granddaughter when it happened,” she said. “There’s lots of young families around here — it’s concerning.”
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Resident Will McGrane said it was good area with little crime.
“It’s the opposite — it’s a family area,” he said.
Joel Bonning was working nearby when one of his colleagues rushed to help the man as he lay dying.
“One of the boys ran down to see if he was okay, and just seen a man lying on the ground with a lot of blood coming out of his head,” he told Channel 9.
Sam Langham said there was nothing they could do to help the man.
Police escorted frightened residents returning home from work to their homes.
Some were told their home was “too close” to police activity to be let home.
