“It feels like a horror movie,” said the local residents. For many years the perpetrator was known in the neighbourhood as a peaceful man but on Sunday night he knocked on the doors of his unsuspecting neighbors before stabbing them to death. Local residents claimed that the perpetrator sounded confused and that he was clearly in a mental crisis. “He thought that he was stabbing wild boats,” said a neighbor who is clearly still in shock. Many local residents still get cold chills when they think about the deadly stabbing spree.

This year the people from this neighborhood will not celebrate New Year’s Eve because of the bloodbath. “You carry this for the rest of your life,” said a woman who has lived in the street for the past 40 years. Many residents made it clear that they needed counselling because they are still traumatized by the deadly stabbing spree. The people whose parents, children, uncles and aunts were ripped from them are hit the hardest. Some of them received a phone call, informing them that something had happened but at the time did not know that their own relatives were among the victims. “You read the news and say to yourself that it is awful but then it turns out that your own mother was also among the victims. That moment breaks you externally.” The people whose relatives were killed became sadder when they talk about the fact that their dear ones who were hardworking and beloved were stabbed to death when they tried to help. “They went to help and paid with their lives.” One noticeable fact is that some relatives do not express hate towards the perpetrator despite his gruesome actions. The man was a former brother-in-law, an uncle and family. “I cannot curse him because then I would be cursing my own child,” said one of the relatives who like the other relatives is caught in the complexity of the drama that unfolded last Sunday. The relatives of the perpetrator revealed that he was mentally ill and that he was receiving medical treatment. They also revealed that he failed to take his pills consequently. When asked who kept an eye on him to make sure that he took his meds, nobody gave an answer.

The police officers who arrived on the scene shot the perpetrator in his legs when he attacked them. The perpetrator was then taken to the hospital where two other victims namely a child and an adult who were also stabbed are fighting for their survival. Reports later indicated that a tenth person has died but the authorities labeled it as fake news. This deadly incident has left the nation in shock and disbelief but it also raises many questions about prevention, healthcare for people with a mental illness and the failure of the government system to raise and spot red flags. Many citizens also expressed their concern over the fact that there are many homeless people with a mental illness who are not receiving medical treatment and who therefore pose a threat to themselves and others. “It is a clear and present danger,” said a concerned citizen.