A crazed attacker brutally beheaded a woman today with a machete.
Victim Palmira Silva, aged 82, was found slumped in the garden of a house in a London suburb.
Two "crying and screaming" young boys were taken from the semi-detached home shortly afterwards.
Police arrested a 25-year-old man after using a taser gun during a violent confrontation.
Eye-witnesses described how the attacker ran amok with a "bloodied knife".
And one said he hacked the heads off two cats shortly beforehand.
There were initial fears the incident was terror-related - but these were later dismissed by police.
Taxi firm manager Kharul Islam, 40, saw officers being handed two boys - aged around three and seven - out of a window before being led to safety.
They surrounded the front and back door and asked a woman in the house to pass out the weeping children.
He said: "When the police arrived there was a lot of panic and they were trying to get through the windows on the ground floor.
"They were talking to the family inside. I saw two kids being held out of the window, I think they were boys, by a woman.
"She looked like their mother and was older than the guy arrested. Then the police smashed their way into the house.
"The family looked like they might be from Afghanistan. They were screaming and crying. I saw a police lady holding both of them.
"The mother came out and then they went into the van."
The next door neighbour of the house, who did not wish to be named, said: "I heard lots of screaming and shouting coming from next door.
"Then a guy with a knife was in our back garden. There was a lot of blood on the knife and he was just hacking away at stuff.
"It's just unbelievable - I'm so shocked."
The police chief leading the investigation, Commander Simon Letchford, said a man had been taken into custody.
He reiterated there appeared to be no terrorist motive.
He also confirmed the initial calls to police were about a man attacking an animal.
"When officers arrived they found woman slumped in the garden. She was pronounced dead at the scene."
He continued: "At this stage there's nothing to suggest that they did or did not know each other.
"A man is currently in hospital being treated for injuries, including cuts.
"At least one firearms officer sustained injuries, a broken wrist I believe.
"We would like to offer deepest condolences to the family.
"This was a fast moving and difficult situation that was presented to them.
"Officers put their lives on the line to prevent other people being harmed.
"The Independent Police Complaints Commission [IPCC] has been notified.
Other eye-witnesses described what they saw.
Isik Saban, 48, said: "The woman who was attacked is in her late 40s. I've seen her around - I believe her husband runs a local cafe.
"I was in the house when a cop started banging on the door - he was shouting 'you've got to get out'.
"I spoke to another who saw the entire thing. She had been working on a night shift so she was asleep when she was awoken by screaming and shouting.
"She went to her window and looked into her neighbour's garden and saw a man attacking a woman with a large machete. There was blood everywhere.
"She also said he had cut off the heads of two cats in the road. He had been rampaging through gardens with a machete."
Muhammed Yusuf said police knocked on his door.
He said: "They just said 'You've got to get out of the house'. Of course I was worried."
His son Ahmed, 19, said: "At first there were two police cars, then all of a sudden there were 20."
Lauren Perkins said: "I was walking down the road when I saw a man with a big knife walking down the street.
"Then I saw some police come down and they told me to get off the road.
"I just can't believe something like that would happen. It's just so shocking."
George Stutianou, who was working on a nearby house when the attack happened, said: "I saw some police smashing the doors and the windows of three houses either side to get women and children out.
"We were in the road and two policemen were running as fast as they could towards us, shouting at us to run and get out of the street. We just didn't know what was going on."
Several neighbours, who would not be named, said they saw the man killing cats.
One said: "I saw him hacking at a cat."
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