Vigil to be held this night for victims of Southport stabbings, native MP says
The Labour MP for Southport, Patrick Hurley, has been on BBC Radio 4’s At the moment programme. He mentioned there will likely be a vigil held tonight for the victims of the assault, which he mentioned has left the realm in “shock and grief”.
Hurley mentioned the assault on Hart Road was a “uniquely horrific event” and that his ideas had been with the neighborhood and the victims. In a press release on X final night time, the MP inspired anybody with details about the incident to go to the police and has reiterated requires members of the general public to not unfold hypothesis on social media.
Police have mentioned two kids have died and 9 have been injured, six critically, after the sequence of stabbings at a kids’s dance class in Southport on Monday (you possibly can learn extra particulars about precisely what occurred, with eyewitness accounts, on this report).
Key occasions
The Guardian’s police and crime correspondent, Vikram Dodd, has written this evaluation piece about how the Southport assault stirs reminiscences of the 1996 Dunblane bloodbath, wherein 16 kids had been murdered together with their instructor when Thomas Hamilton broke into the gymnasium of Dunblane main faculty armed with 4 handguns and started taking pictures at a category of five- and six-year-olds. He notes that such incidents within the UK are extraordinarily uncommon and explains what among the subsequent steps in Merseyside police’s investigation could also be as officers attempt to work out what the motivation for yesterday morning’s “ferocious” knife assault was.
The place did the assault happen?
King Charles despatched his “most heartfelt condolences” to the households and family members of the victims.
He mentioned: “My wife and I have been profoundly shocked to hear of the utterly horrific incident in Southport today.
“We send our most heartfelt condolences, prayers and deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have so tragically lost their lives, and to all those affected by this truly appalling attack.”
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, mentioned the occasions in Southport had been “just truly awful” and that “the whole country is deeply shocked at what they have seen and what they have heard”.
“I know I speak for everybody in the whole country in saying our thoughts and condolences are with the victims, their families, their friends and with the wider community. It is impossible to imagine what they are going through.”
He additionally thanked the emergency providers for his or her response, saying: “They have responded to an awful incident today. I want to thank them for the professionalism they have shown in doing so.”
You may watch a clip from final night time’s police press convention right here:
Residents and enterprise homeowners described horrific scenes after the assault, together with kids bleeding on the street and oldsters screaming as they tried to find their little one.
Alaina Riley, 18, mentioned her aunt, who lives throughout the street from the venue, witnessed “little kids run out screaming covered in blood” and two workers members “crawling” out of the constructing.
Riley mentioned her aunt noticed mother and father working out of the dance class carrying kids lined in blood and making an attempt to resuscitate them.
“I think it was pickup time,” Riley mentioned. “She said she had never heard screams like it. She was distraught and in an absolute state on the phone to me.”
Native individuals had been reportedly bringing kids out of the constructing to are likely to their accidents earlier than the emergency providers arrived.
Colin Parry, the proprietor of Masters automobile restore store, which is subsequent door to the Hart House, mentioned he noticed “two or three kids” mendacity critically injured on the ground.
“It was horrific, absolutely,” he mentioned, including that his colleague ran to the door of the dance studio after he heard “screaming that wasn’t normal”.
“About 10 kids go running past him, all bleeding, and one of them collapsed on the floor outside,” he mentioned.
Additional down the street, Debrah Parker, 57, mentioned she heard a younger woman come out of the constructing saying: “Mum, I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been stabbed.”
“She [the mother] bundled her in the car as fast as she could, she was screaming: ‘Help me, help me.’ She was covered in blood,” she mentioned.
Six kids stay in important situation after two killed in Southport assault
Jessica Murray
Six kids and two adults stay in a important situation in hospital after yesterday’s knife assault in Southport.
Two kids have already died because of the assault, which passed off at a Taylor Swift-themed yoga and dance class on the Hart House, a studio that additionally hosts antenatal and hypnobirthing courses, within the north-west seaside city.
Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside police, mentioned a person armed with a knife had entered the category and began to assault the youngsters at about 11.47am on Monday.
“When [officers] arrived, they were shocked to find that multiple people, many of whom were children, had been subjected to a ferocious attack and had suffered serious injuries,” she mentioned.
“We believe that the adults who were injured were bravely trying to protect the children who were being attacked.”
A 17-year-old boy, from the village of Banks in Lancashire and born in Cardiff, was later arrested on suspicion of homicide and tried homicide in reference to the assault.
Kennedy mentioned “the motivation for the incident remains unclear” however it was not presently being handled as terrorist-related, though Counter Terrorism Police North West had provided their assist to the drive in its investigation.
You may learn a full report of yesterday’s incident right here:
We are going to deliver you the most recent developments as we get them.
