A man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a knife attack in Manchester’s Arndale Centre left four people injured.
Greater Manchester
police assistant chief constable Russ Jackson has confirmed the suspect, a man in his 40s, is being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.
Police remain at the scene and the area has been evacuated.
Police confirmed the number of injured shortly after the North Western Ambulance service stated that five people had been stabbed.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “A 19-year-old woman was taken to hospital with stab wounds. Another woman was also taken to hospital with stab injuries. Both their conditions are described as stable.
“A man in his 50s has also been taken to hospital with stab wounds.
“A fourth victim – a woman in her 40s – who was not stabbed – has been assessed and did not need to go to hospital following assessment by paramedics.”UPDATE: We have treated four patients, including one patient with serious injuries and all have been taken to hospital. For further updates follow @gmpolice— North West Ambulance Service (@NWAmbulance) October 11, 2019Freddie Houlder, 22, from Market Drayton, was in the Arndale Centre when he heard “a load of screams just outside” the shop he was in.
He said a woman then came into the shop and told others “a guy just ran past the shop and tried to stab me”.
Houlder added: “Luckily she had quite a thick jacket – she thought originally it was a fake knife because of how easily it grazed off but police came in and said it was a real knife and she burst into tears.”He said he was evacuated several minutes later at which point he saw “a bunch of curtains covering someone seriously injured or dead, I don’t know”.
“I definitely don’t think it was gang violence because this guy was going around trying to stab random people, I believe.”Incident In Arndale Shopping Centre. pic.twitter.com/siOkmWZFgC— Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) October 11, 2019A GMP statement said: “Specialist officers are continuing to respond to an incident at the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester city centre.
“We can confirm that five [later corrected to four] people have been stabbed and taken to hospital.
“In these early stages we are keeping an open mind about the motivation of this terrible incident and the circumstances as we know them.”
North West Ambulance Service said it had treated four people after being called at 11.17am to reports of a stabbing incident.
Social media posts showed a large number of officers at the scene and a suspect being Tasered.
According to MEN reporter John Scheerhout, at least one of the victims has been stretchered into an ambulance.City centre stabbing: one casualty has just stretchered into the ambulance pic.twitter.com/kOmi33wOHy— John Scheerhout (@johnscheerhout) October 11, 2019All going off in #Manchester in the Arndale 😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/3LXB9u821q— Dave Hardy (@DaveBespoke) October 11, 2019Manchester saw Britain’s most deadly militant attack in recent years when a suicide bomber killed 22 people in May 2017 at the end of a pop concert by
Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena, not far from the Arndale Centre.
Boris Johnson took to
Twitter in the wake of the incident, writing: “Shocked by the incident in Manchester and my thoughts are with the injured and all those affected.
“Thank you to our excellent emergency services who responded and who are now investigating what happened.”
Bev Hughes, Greater Manchester’s deputy mayor for policing, crime and
fire, praised the “swift and professional action” of the emergency services.
She wrote: “Our thoughts are with the five people injured.
“The scene has been secured and all emergency services are engaged in ensuring public safety – the investigation is ongoing.”
The shopping centre remains closed, with a police cordon outside the Shudehill entrance to the building.
Police have set up a rendezvous point in nearby Piccadilly Gardens, and have advised the public not to be alarmed by the huge emergency service presence in the area.
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