The New Zealand Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, visits Lopeti, the security guard injured during the recent incident in Auckland on Thursday.
It comes after a 24-year-old man was charged with aggravated wounding after a serious assault in Newmarket, police said.
The incident occurred on Broadway, near Westfield Mall, about 2.35pm, and left Lopeti in a critical condition.
Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Friend, of Auckland City CIB, said security guards had approached a man when he produced a knife.
“One of the guards has sustained a serious stab injury to the neck as a result.
“At this point, we have established they were trying to engage with the man in relation to an earlier incident.”
Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas said the victim was one of his staff members.
“Lopeti’s actions were truly heroic,” Knoff-Thomas wrote on LinkedIn.
“We shudder to think what could have happened if the knife-wielding offender wasn’t stopped.”
The minister reportedly visited the victim at the hospital and took the time to speak directly with him and his family.
The 24-year-old man appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday charged with aggravated wounding in relation to the incident.
He was remanded without plea in custody, and with interim name suppression, until his next appearance in court on December 19.
