A man has died and seven people left seriously injured after multiple people were stabbed in the city centre in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Police confirmed that two people, a man and a woman, had also been seriously injured during the incident, to which
police were called at around 12.30am on Sunday morning.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said officers were still working to identify and locate one suspect, with victims believed to have been chosen at random.
Chief superintendent Steve Graham, who is responsible for policing in Birmingham, said there is “absolutely no suggestion at all that this is terror related”.
A police statement said: “We can now confirm that we’ve launched a murder investigation following the events in Birmingham city centre overnight.
“A man has tragically died. Another man and a woman have suffered serious injuries and five others have also been injured, although their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
“We believe the incidents, which took place between 12.30am and 2.20am, are linked and we’re doing all we can to find whoever was responsible.”
Graham said: “The events during the early hours of this morning are tragic, shocking and understandably frightening.
“Please be assured that we are doing absolutely everything we can to find whoever was responsible and try to understand what exactly happened.
“We have well-rehearsed plans for dealing with major incidents. Your safety is always our priority and that’s why you’ll see an increase in officers on the streets.
“In the meantime, we’d ask anyone who’s in the city to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to us.”
He added that the stabbings overnight were believed to have been linked, with police searching for one suspect.
Officers were called to reports of a stabbing in Constitution Hill, north of the city centre, in the early hours of Sunday morning and the suspect worked north-to-south.
Graham said: “We are still in the early stages of that inquiry but I can say that we are treating all four of those incidents as a linked series.”
He said no arrests have been made and “significant resources” were being used to track the suspect.
He told reporters: “There was no suggestion that people have seen him running out of the area, searches were being made at the time, and so inquiries and searches were made but unfortunately the suspect wasn’t caught and still hasn’t been.”
He added: “Already we’ve got people going down drains, we’ve got that level of detailed searches taking place which will hopefully reassure the people that we are doing everything we can do to trace the offender.”
Graham added a number of descriptions had come in of the suspect but police were not releasing anything at this time, asking the public to come forward with any information or footage they may have.
He later said there was no known connection between the victims in the four linked incidents and that extra officers have been deployed in Birmingham.
Nathan Hudson, from West Midlands Ambulance Service, told reporters that ambulances were sent to Birmingham city centre from around midnight.
He said: “We were able to send about a total number of 14 ambulances, 11 ambulance paramedic officers including myself.
“Ambulance staff treated a total of seven patients, five were taken to the new
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
“Three have suffered critical injuries and sadly one man had lost his life … Two further patients were transported to Heartlands Hospital and an outpatient with minor injuries was not transported with ambulance assets.”
Home secretary Priti Patel tweeted: “All my thoughts are with those affected by the shocking incident in Birmingham last night.
“Our emergency services are working hard to find whoever is responsible and bring them to justice.”All my thoughts are with those affected by the shocking incident in Birmingham last night. Our emergency services are working hard to find whoever is responsible and bring them to justice.Anyone with information should contact @WMPolice.— Priti Patel (@pritipatel) September 6, 2020Speaking to Andrew Marr on
BBC One earlier on Sunday morning, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said: “We know it’s a very serious incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
“I think at this point in time we don’t know too much more than that other than to say the public should be very vigilant.” Related... 'Major Incident' Declared In Birmingham After Multiple Stabbings
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