A large kids cafe was operating in the commercial building in Incheon's Namdong District where a stabbing rampage took place, authorities confirmed. Customers built a barricade during the attack to keep the suspect from reaching the floor where the cafe was located, an action credited with limiting what could have been a far greater toll.
According to police on the 14th, a man in his 50s identified as A stabbed indiscriminately at a commercial building in Namdong District's Guwol-dong at around 1:40 p.m. the previous day, wounding nine people, including a woman in her 20s.
A moved between women's restrooms and stores on the second and third floors as he carried out the attack. He also headed toward the large kids cafe in the same building, but turned to another floor after customers set up a barricade and blocked his path.
Bae Sang-hoon, an adjunct professor of police and criminal psychology at Woosuk University, said of the kids cafe: "If he had broken in there, the harm could have been beyond imagination." He added: "The actions of these citizens reduced the harm. It was highly commendable behavior."
Citizens and store employees also played a major role in subduing A. They used trays and chairs to take the weapon away from him and hold him down. "The police made the arrest, of course, but it was the citizens and the employees who found the courage to act," Bae said. "Without that, I believe the harm would have been enormous."
Bae said the toll was worsened by the fact that A moved across several floors by escalator as he attacked. Customers on other floors had no way of knowing what was happening elsewhere in the building and could not respond to the sudden assault, he said.
The investigation found that A had taped weapons to both hands to secure them during the attack. Along with the weapon used in the attack, police found one additional bladed weapon and one blunt weapon among his belongings.
Among the injured, a woman in her 20s was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest and underwent emergency surgery. She has come out of cardiac arrest following the operation but has not yet regained consciousness.
A had previously served a four-year prison term for attempted murder and was wearing an electronic monitoring anklet at the time of the attack. Police are investigating his exact motive and the circumstances of the crime.