Scissors-wielding teen arrested for public nuisance at Bedok Mall
The aftermath of the damage caused by a man, who was subsequently detained by the police for wielding a weapon, at The Body Shop store at Bedok Mall on Dec 27, 2017. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY
SINGAPORE — A mentally unsound teenager with a pair of scissors was arrested at Bedok Mall on Wednesday (Dec 27) evening for "causing trouble".
The police said in a Facebook update at around 7.30pm they had detained an 18-year-old male. He had a history of mental health problems and was "arrested for public nuisance".
Nobody was injured in the incident, which happened at 6.05pm, the police told TODAY.
Mr Mustafa Abdul Rahim, general manager of the CapitaLand mall, said it is cooperating with ongoing police investigations.
TODAY understands that the teenager was detained by an off-duty police officer with the aid of a mall security personnel.
Eyewitnesses said the teen knocked over items in some shops and pointed the pair of scissors at at least one person.
A 16-year-old female sales assistant at clothing retailer G2000, who declined to be named, said she saw the man knocking down one of the store's sensors and triggering the alarm at about 6.30pm. With three of her colleagues, she ushered about 10 customers in the store at the time to the back for their safety.
Mr Richard Ng, 57, a sales assistant at the Watches of Japan store located on the first floor of the mall, said he heard the man shouting a few metres away, banging into some of the shops and knocking down their products. The man also stood in front of his store. "I shouted at him to go away but then he picked up my vase and slammed it to the floor," he said.
Nurul Maisarah Azman, a 15-year-old part-time crew member at McDonald's, was pushing a trolley out of the fast food restaurant when she saw a man shouting loudly near the taxi stand. As she was returning to the mall, he suddenly appeared in front of her and pointed the scissors at her shoulder. "He shouted at me, 'What's your problem?' and I looked away," she said. "He continued pointing the scissors at me and shouted, 'Why are you looking at me?' and I looked away again hoping he would walk away."
Maisarah, a Secondary Three student at Juying Secondary School, said passersby stared at them but did not offer any help. The man then walked into McDonald's before moving to other shops.
"I was traumatised. I told a female colleague what happened. My brain and body was just numb, so I didn't tell my manager. Then at about 7pm, a police inspector came to speak to me. That's when my manager and other colleagues knew what happened to me," she said.
The incident ended at watch shop H2 Hub Timepieces. A 19-year-old male store assistant, who declined to be named, said the man ran into the store after two Cisco security officers gave chase. "He started shoving things around. The customers were all shocked and they ran out," he added.
According to him, the man later sat in a corner near the cashier and the security officers managed to disarm him. They called the police, who arrived within 10 minutes.
The store assistant later overheard the teen telling police officers that "his medicine had finished".
