The frightening ordeal kicked off around 4pm outside a hospital in Sundsvall when the 33-year-old man attacked a 42-year-old woman, cutting her in the knee and face.

According to the Aftonbladet newspaper, the woman is said to have lost an eye in the attack, which consisted of several blows from the machete-like knife.

“She was cut in the face and is being treated for her injuries,” police spokesperson Mikael Hedström told the newspaper.

Leaving the woman bleeding profusely, the 33-year-old fled the scene.

Around 90 minutes later, police received a call about a car accident on the E4 motorway near Harmånger, about 60 kilometres south of Sundsvall.

As it turned out, the 33-year-old has crashed his getaway car in the ditch.

But when two minivans filled with a group of high school students stopped to help, the man again went on the offensive, putting the knife against the throat of one of the teachers and forcing students out of one of the minivans.

“He pulled out a machete and forced his way onto the bus,” an accompanying school principal told Aftonbladet.

He then sped off in the minivan, leaving the stunned students on the side of the motorway.

Police eventually caught up to the 33-year-old after he once again drove into the ditch while exiting the motorway near Silja.

However, police were forced to fire a warning shot and shower the man with pepper spray before he gave up.

The 33-year-old was placed under arrest and taken to the police station under suspicion of attempted murder, making illegal threats, robbery, and resisting arrest.

Police also discovered that a dog belonging to the school group, which had been left in the stolen minivan, had also suffered knife injuries. It was subsequently taken to a veterinary physician for treatment.

On Friday it emerged that the 33-year-old had been sectioned in a closed psychiatric clinic in Sundsvall until early February.

After being questioned by police he will likely be transferred back to the psychiatric clinic in Sundsvall.

According to the local Sunsvall Tidning (ST) newspaper, the man suffers from severe psychiatric problems and has been in an out of clinics since the summer of 2010.

The Local/dl

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