A New Zealand supermarket chain has announced it will temporarily remove all scissors and knives from shelves after an attack that left several people injured in one of its shops on Friday.
A general manager of the supermarket chain Countdown said he was also considering whether to sell these items in the future.
“Last night we made the decision to temporarily remove all knives and scissors from our shelves as we consider whether we should continue to sell them,” Kiri Hannifin, Countdown’s chief security officer, said on Saturday.
“This is by no means a reflection on our customers, but an act of support for our team. We want our entire team to feel safe when it comes to work, especially considering yesterday’s events,” he said. dir Hannifin.
Reuters noted, citing local reports, that sharp knives had also been removed from the shelves of other supermarkets.
On Friday, a Sri Lankan citizen previously known to New Zealand security forces entered a Countdown supermarket, chasing several customers and stabbing them, witnesses said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted that the attacker “was a supporter of ISIS ideology”.
Officials said Friday that six people were injured in the attack, and three were taken to hospital in critical condition. One person was in serious condition and two others were in moderate condition.
The man, who has not yet been identified, was shot dead within a minute of the attack, Ardern said. He said he was a “violent extremist” and described the incident as a “terrorist attack”.
“It was carried out by an individual, not by a faith, or by a culture, or by an ethnic group, but by a person who seized an ideology that neither anyone nor any community supports here. Only he assumes responsibility for these acts; that is where the judgment falls, ”Ardern said.
In 2019, a white supremacist shot dead 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch. Ardern pointed to the incident as terrorism after the deadly attack, which also injured 40 more people, according to the Washington Post.