Taiwanese knifeman arrested after rampage at Ayutthaya petrol station

The drama began at about 9.30pm when the man walked into the petrol station on the outbound section of Highway 32 in Tambon Thanu.

Security camera footage posted by the Nation TV website

shows the man walking in and threatening two staff with a pocketknife as they collect money from the driver of a blue sedan car. The car quickly accelerates away.

The man then walks to a white Honda being refuelled, opens the rear left-side door and gets in. Driver Pasiwanut Singprae, 31, is seen fleeing the vehicle as the man gets in.

He later told police that the knifeman had sat down in the backseat and shouted “go, go!” Paswanut said he and his girlfriend were frightened so they grabbed the car keys and fled. He added that the assailant had scratched the vehicle with his knife in several places.

Footage then shows the man leaning through the window, pulling out the fuel pump nozzle and throwing it to the ground before closing the fuel cap. Station staff back away as he jumps into the driver’s seat and closes the door. Apparently realising that he cannot start the engine, he then exits the vehicle, gesticulates wildly at a passing motorcycle and grabs a fuel nozzle. However, fuel supply to the nozzle appears to have been remotely shut off by station staff. The man then walks around holding the nozzle in a state of high agitation before climbing up to sit on the Honda’s bonnet.

Saharat Homsukhon, a rescue official of a unit near the station said the man had earlier walked into his unit, wielding a knife and threatening rescue staff, who fled.

Saharat said the man was shouting crazily as he left the rescue unit and walked in the direction of the petrol station.

Rescue officials followed before confronting the man at the station. A fight reportedly ensued and the assailant suffered head injuries as he was overpowered by petrol station staff and rescue officials. Police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards to find the man complaining bitterly about being attacked. They handcuffed him and seized his pocketknife before rescue officials rushed him to a local hospital for treatment. Police said they would charge the assailant, adding they suspected he had been taking drugs.