Mr Jorge Fuenzalida, of Dunedin, NZBS for an act of outstanding bravery in a situation of danger
Mid-afternoon on 10 May 2021, a man with a short kitchen knife in each hand attacked a staff member at a supermarket in central Dunedin, causing multiple wounds as she tried to defend herself. Several shoppers and staff in the busy supermarket attempted to restrain the offender during his frenzied attack, which occurred in little over a minute, with four people in total sustaining stab wounds. Mr Jorge Fuenzalida, a Corrections officer, was shopping with his wife, Ms Vanessa Miller-Andrews, at the time of the incident. They heard a scream and went to investigate. They discovered the offender struggling with two staff members and moved to assist. One of the staff members was stabbed several times. During the struggle, Mr Fuenzalida used both hands to try to get the offender to drop one of the knives, not realising the offender had a knife in his other hand. Mr Fuenzalida was stabbed with the other knife and thrown to the ground, breaking his wrist. Ms Miller-Andrews tried to drag Mr Fuenzalida away and was grabbed by the offender, who stabbed her twice. The offender then approached Mr Fuenzalida on the floor and stabbed him, before returning to Ms Miller-Andrews and stabbing her again. Mr Fuenzalida, despite his injuries, crawled over to intervene, receiving a further stab wound. While the offender continued to attack Mr Fuenzalida, two off-duty Police officers and other members of the public intervened to restrain the offender. Mr Fuenzalida had become entangled in the offender’s legs during the struggle and was dragged away by one of the off-duty officers. Uniformed Police then arrived to arrest the offender. Mr Fuenzalida demonstrated outstanding bravery by intervening in the struggle and attempting to disarm the offender. Mr Fuenzalida continued to try to prevent harm to others in the struggle after sustaining life-threatening injuries as a result of his actions.