A police corporal assigned to the St Mary Division is among three people who have been hospitalised following a series of machete attacks — allegedly by a mentally ill man — in Port Maria yesterday.

According to the constabulary’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU, about 11:00 am, a man believed to be mentally ill attacked a businessman and another mentally ill person, inflicting several chop wounds to their bodies.

The police corporal, who CCU said intervened and sought assistance for the injured individuals to be taken to hospital, was also chopped multiple times.

It is further reported that the attacker then barricaded himself in a house, trapping an ailing elderly man inside.

The police made several attempts to rescue the ailing man and during the rescue operation, the mentally challenged man attacked the lawmen and was shot and injured, reported CCU.

He has since been hospitalised.

The police officer and the two other injured people remain in hospital.