Witness describes chaotic scenes as knife-wielding man arrested at Auckland gym

  • 15/08/2022

A witness has described the chaotic scenes after a knife-wielding man ran into an Auckland gym on Monday, forcing panicked gym goers to flee.

Matthew Le said he was leaving City Fitness in St Lukes on Monday when the chaotic incident occurred.

Le was finishing his workout when a man walked into the gym and started screaming. Staff asked him to leave and he did. Le said the receptionist told the gym goers there was no need to worry.

"I was told that it was nothing and it was just some random dude having the bad case of the Mondays coming into the gym and started yelling at the staff but he left already so that's all good," he said.

But when Le was getting into his car to leave he noticed a lot of commotion in the gym car park.

"As soon as I got in my car, I saw people running full speed outside the gym like running, running big time.

"I rolled down my window obviously being nosy and then asked everyone what was going on. They said the same dude came back with a knife, chasing everybody around City Fitness."

Le added he was glad no one was hurt.

Police told Newshub they received reports of a man being verbally abusive towards the public after 8.30am.

"Police responded and swiftly took the man into custody. A knife was also located at the same time."

Police said the man was injured but no one else was harmed.

City Fitness told Newshub it is working to support staff after the "extremely upsetting" event.

"Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and the individual was arrested. We are working to get the most accurate sequence of events and cooperating with the Police in their investigation," a spokesperson told Newshub.

"It is extremely upsetting that such random acts happen, but will take every opportunity to determine what further steps we can take to ensure the continued safety of our staff and members."