Mr Ryan Ramsay, of Dunedin, NZBM for an act of bravery
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. A supermarket employee Mr Ryan Ramsay was working at the time and heard screaming and someone yelling that a woman had been hurt. He made his way to the pharmacy aisle and witnessed a man being stabbed and the offender moving to stab another woman nearby shortly afterwards. The injured man asked Mr Ramsay to check on his wife, the woman who had been stabbed. At this time other staff and members of the public were trying to restrain the offender. An off-duty Police officer and another staff member, Ms Pam Thompson, threw themselves onto the offender to pin him to the ground. Mr Ramsay assisted by attempting to disarm the offender. Mr Ramsay noticed the offender had a knife in each hand, and despite being pinned on his side, the offender was thrashing and still able to move his hands. Mr Ramsay was unable to remove the knives and was told by another shopper to assist with applying pressure to the injured victims’ wounds. Mr Ramsay took off his jersey and applied pressure to a man’s wound until uniformed Police arrived to arrest the restrained offender. Mr Ramsay did not hesitate to attempt to disarm the struggling offender, demonstrating bravery in trying to prevent further harm.