'Bloody long, very sharp': Off-duty cop takes down alleged machete-wielding teen

A veteran off-duty cop in his Army Reserves uniform has brought down an alleged machete-wielding teenage shoplifter in a mall carpark, winning plaudits from top cops and defence chiefs.

Senior Constable Johnny McGrail was leaving Specsavers while at Lower Hutt’s Queensgate Mall for an NZ Army Reserves Antarctica deployment medical on November 2, when he heard a commotion at the nearby Woolworths supermarket.

Two young men were allegedly shoplifting “expensive cuts of meat”, with one allegedly kicking and punching a store manager who intervened just after 5pm, said Johnsonville-based McGrail, 61.

“I was aware something big was going down in the mall. People were running around, there was shouting and then I spotted a young adult [allegedly] brandishing a very sharp Gerber [brand] machete.

“It’s a very, very long knife and he was [allegedly] wielding it around at members of the public. The police [saying is] ‘See something, do something’. It doesn’t matter if you’re on duty or not, or whether you’re in the green [Army] uniform”, said the married dad-of-six.

Someone yelled, “Stop him” but no one did so, McGrail said.

“[So] we ran out through the glass doors into the main carpark. He was trying to lose me by ducking and diving amongst all the parked cars, but I just tagged on and didn’t give up … after a long time I managed to corner him.”

Senior Constable Johnny McGrail said he wasn't scared during the incident but knew the situation “could turn really ugly”, and he relied on his police training for a good outcome.

The teen then stopped, spun around and allegedly came towards McGrail with the “bloody long … very sharp knife”.

“He was using expletives, ‘Come on, blah, blah, blah’ … I identified myself as an off-duty police officer and said, ‘We need to de-escalate this, I need you to put the machete in its sheath’.”

The teen did so before following a second instruction to put the machete on the ground, McGrail said.

“He was reluctant to do it at the beginning, but then he eventually put it down. He goes, ‘Right, you’ve got your effin’ knife. I’m outta here’.”

The incident unfolded at Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt on November 2. Image / Google Maps

Unsure what had happened at the supermarket, McGrail first tried to stall the man, before telling him he was under arrest for possession of an offensive weapon, he said.

“He attempted to bolt. I managed to grab his top and lock my fist into it so I had a good grip … he was desperately trying to free himself and was trying to punch me, so I was ducking and diving to avoid his blows and I was screaming out to the public for help."

One misguided person attempted to free the alleged offender, possibly confused by McGrail’s army uniform, before an “older, stocky fellow” stepped in, McGrail said.

“Together we dropped the guy to the ground. He sat on him and I locked [the teen’s] arm in an armbar [physical control hold] and then I screamed at a guy on the phone [to 111] to give me the phone in my free hand … I quickly told [police] comms what’s going down, and that we need immediate back-up.

“It was a pretty intense experience, but there’s no way I was going to let the guy get away.”

He wasn’t scared, but knew the situation “could turn really ugly”, McGrail said.

“That’s why with your training, you’re putting yourself in danger, but you’re also making sure you’ve got an escape plan if it really goes south.”

It was an awesome feeling when his police colleagues turned up to help, Senior Constable Johnny McGrail said, after the off-duty cop intervened in an alleged criminal incident at Queensgate Mall this month.

An 18-year-old man had been charged with possessing an offensive weapon, threatening behaviour, assault on a first responder and two counts of common assault, a police spokeswoman said.

He was due to reappear in Hutt Valley District Court on December 1.

McGrail understood the second alleged shoplifter hadn’t been caught, and he wasn’t sure how the supermarket worker was.

Wellington Free Ambulance said they hadn’t attended an incident at the Queensgate Woolworths at that time.

It was an “awesome feeling” when fellow police officers arrived to help, McGrail said.

“Seeing all those patrol cars and my mates coming to my aid, it was awesome. They know me because I’ve been around donkey’s years … they were really impressed an old copper managed to take down an athletic young man.”

McGrail, who also survived being struck by a car while on his police motorcycle in 2021 – leaving him with a broken leg in two places and a prolapsed disc at L3 in his lumbar spine – was later called at home by Wellington District Commander Superintendent Penny Gifford, and sent a text from Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Pannett.

“[They wanted to] congratulate me, and offer support … I was [also] told by my Army Reserves commanding officer it’d gone up to the Chief of Army and Minister of Defence, so they said it went down pretty well.”

As well as being a police officer, Johnny McGrail is a Staff Sergeant and combat engineer for the NZ Army Reserves.

McGrail has been in the Army Reserves for 42 years, where he is a Staff Sergeant with Second Engineer Regiment and a combat engineer.

He’s worked for the police the same length of time and been a sworn police officer for 38 years.

The veteran’s been on overseas deployments for both police and the Army Reserves.

A leader on the police Specialist Search Group and a member of the Disaster Victim Identification team, he’s also a proud “constable for life” who’s in no hurry to leave the frontline, or the force, McGrail said.

“I’m having too much fun.”

Cherie Howie joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.