Joseph Denton, 29, hit the knifeman in the head with a fire extinguisher during the attack at a Sainsbury’s warehouse this morning (January 23).
Five people were injured and 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was also taken to hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Joseph said of the attack on Marlowe Way, Beddington: “One had a big gash in his arm. I think someone in the side as well.”
The man from Rayleigh, Essex, told the PA news agency: “He didn’t say a word. He was trying to kill me and I’d never seen him before in my life.(Image: Ben Whitley)
“I tried to lock the door, but where I couldn’t I had to just confront him and fight him basically.
“I got him on the floor and decided to hit him with a fire extinguisher, which sort of calmed everything down.
“And then people rushed in because he was on the floor at that point, and then we all just carried on attacking him until he left.
“I didn’t really have a choice to be honest. There’s one door he was coming through. So, there’s nowhere to go anyway, so I had to confront him.
“He had his thing just stabbing at me like a serial killer.”
Asked about the knife, Mr Denton said: “It was literally the size of my face. It was a Rambo knife about eight inches, with all jagged edges.”
Five people – a man in his 50s, two men in their 30s, and two men in their 20s – were taken to hospital with stab wounds. Their conditions were assessed as not life-threatening.
One was taken to a major trauma centre in London and four other people were taken to hospital, the London Ambulance Service added.
Denton was at the warehouse near an Asda for an audit when the attack started.
He said: “The company basically started shouting and saying: ‘He’s back’.
So we locked ourselves in the room and we heard shouting coming from the warehouse.
“It sounded like someone was getting murdered. So, we thought we’ve got to go and help them.”
Mr Denton, who had a bandage around his finger, added: “Before that, he came up to the door and he was banging on the door trying to get through.
“Then he went back into the warehouse. And when we heard someone was getting stabbed through the phone, we opened the door to go and help him, at which point he turned around and ran towards us.
“He got to the door before I could shut it and he got half of his body through, and was stabbing at me in my chest, and I was deflecting it.
“He sliced my finger open and got a couple other cuts on my arms, and then basically fought him off there.
“As I pushed him out, he fell and I caught his ankle in the door, and I was squashing his ankles so he couldn’t get back up, at which point I picked up a fire extinguisher and opened the door and hit him on the head with it.
“There was about six of us all attacking him at this point, and then he ran off.”
Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain, local policing commander for south London, said: “Officers responded quickly and arrested the suspect within an hour. An investigation is now under way.
“Based on initial enquiries we believe all those involved knew each other. Therefore we do not believe there is any wider risk to the public.”
A London Ambulance spokesperson said: “We were called at 10.21am this morning (Thursday January 23) to reports of a stabbing incident in Marlowe Way, Croydon.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car, an incident response officer, members of our Tactical Response Unit and London’s Air Ambulance.
“Our crews treated five patients at the scene, before taking one to a London major trauma centre and four to other hospitals.”
