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Manchester Arndale stabbings suspect arrested for terrorism offence Manchester Arndale stabbings suspect arrested on suspicion of terrorism
(about 2 hours later)
A man detained after a multiple stabbing at the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester has been formally arrested on suspicion of planning an act of terrorism, police have said. A man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after several people were stabbed in Manchester’s Arndale shopping centre, sending bystanders running for their lives.
Three people were stabbed and another suffered a superficial wound when a man ran amok with a large knife shortly after 11am on Friday. A fifth person was treated at the scene for shock. Three people were stabbed and taken to hospital after the attack on Friday morning, police said. Two other people were assessed but did not need treatment.
Greater Manchester police’s assistant chief constable, Russ Jackson, said two unarmed police community support officers had attempted to confront the attacker when he turned on them and chased them with the knife. The suspect, 41, was seen shouting and behaving erratically, bystanders said. He was later arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences and was being investigated for the preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.
Jackson said the man, who is believed to be British and from the Manchester area, attacked people around him as armed officers raced to the scene. Jackson said the man was initially detained on suspicion of serious assaults before later being arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism. Greater Manchester police assistant chief constable Russ Jackson said a man had entered the shopping centre at 11am armed with a large knife. “He entered Exchange Court and lunged at and attacked people with the knife. Two community support officers were in Exchange Court and attempted to confront the attacker.
He added: “We do not know the motivation for this terrible attack. It appears random, is certainly brutal and of course extremely frightening for anyone who witnessed it.” “He chased them with the knife as they called for assistance. He attacked people around him and we understood that five people were injured, although thankfully none [of the injuries] are life-threatening.”
Jackson said the incident was “bound to bring back memories of the awful events of 2017” when a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured hundreds more at Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017. Jackson said the man was apprehended within five minutes and was initially arrested for serious assault and taken into custody. He was later rearrested under terrorism offences.
He said: “At this time we do not believe that there is anyone else involved in this attack but we will be constantly keeping this under review. We have specially trained officers supporting those injured from the attack. “We don’t know the motivation for the attack. It was brutal and extremely frightening for everyone who witnessed it. We don’t believe anyone else was involved, but we are keeping it under review,” he added.
“We’ll have increased patrols, including armed patrols, in the city centre this weekend. This is to reassure people, but we do not believe there is a wider threat at this time and we are hoping to return the city to normality by tomorrow morning.” Witnesses described people screaming and “running for their lives” after the man was seen shouting and using racial epithets near the Superdry store in the shopping centre.
Three people – a 19-year-old woman, a second woman and a man in his 50s – were taken to hospital for stab wounds but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Janet Loudon, 21, and a friend, who wanted to remain anonymous, had just met up when they heard a disturbance outside the Arndale. Loudon said she came out of work at 10.30am and encountered a black man shouting racial slurs including the N-word and being hostile towards an Arndale worker, who was also black.
MI5, the domestic security service that leads on counterterrorism investigations, was also monitoring events in Manchester following the stabbings. “It wasn’t clear what the man was saying but he was swearing and telling the public, ‘I’m going to fuck you up,’ repeatedly and he got more and more agitated. He was pointing at the police and Arndale workers,” she said, adding that he claimed he was being targeted because of his race and referred to himself using the N-word.
Video footage and photographs showed armed police officers deployed around the Exchange Square side of the shopping centre. One clip showed officers using a Taser and holding a man to the ground before arresting him. “Everyone was panicking and frantic. We saw a victim slouched between an ATM which was a horrific sight and she was taken away to be helped.”
In other video and pictures posted on Twitter, a large number of emergency service vehicles were seen arriving at the centre. A 19-year-old woman and a man in his 50s were taken to hospital with stab wounds. Both their conditions were described as stable.
Footage showed people being taken away on stretchers, and members of the public were asked to stay away from the shopping centre. A fourth victim – a woman in her 40s who was not stabbed – did not need to go to hospital following assessment by paramedics. Another woman has since gone to hospital with a superficial wound.
Armed police officers wearing face coverings were stationed outside the shopping centre as a long queue of ambulances arrived and a police helicopter hovered overhead. Plainclothes detectives arrived at the scene while uniformed officers told people the Arndale would be closed for some time. Video footage and photographs showed armed police officers deployed around the Exchange Court side of the shopping centre. One clip showed officers using a Taser and holding a man to the ground before arresting him.
Bernadette Westhall, 55, said she saw people “running for their lives” and screaming as the attack unfolded. John Greenhalgh, 30, who captured the footage, was travelling on a tram when it stopped suddenly. “You could tell it was something quite serious,” he said. “There were a lot of armed police. They were there very quickly.
Westhall was in the toilets on the ground floor near a Starbucks cafe when she heard a commotion. “I was coming out of there and everybody was just screaming and running for their lives. I ran straight into a shop and stayed in there until the coast was clear. It was a lady that he attacked.” “The tram was evacuated and we were put in the back of a van. We weren’t told what was happening. There was a guy sitting on the floor screaming.”
A witness who took video footage of a man being Tasered outside the shopping centre said the suspect was “screaming”. In other video and pictures posted on Twitter, a large number of emergency service vehicles were seen arriving at the centre. Footage showed people being taken away on stretchers, and members of the public were asked to stay away from the centre.
John Greenhalgh, 30, was travelling on a tram when it stopped suddenly. “You could tell it was something quite serious – there were a lot of armed police. They were there very quickly. Armed police officers wearing face coverings were stationed outside the centre as a long queue of ambulances arrived and a police helicopter hovered overhead. Plainclothes detectives arrived at the scene while uniformed officers told people the Arndale would be closed for some time.
“The tram was evacuated and we were put in the back of a van. We weren’t told what was happening,” he said. “There was a guy sitting on the floor screaming.” Bernadette Westhall, 55, said she saw people “running for their lives” and screaming as the attack unfolded. She was in the toilets on the ground floor near a Starbucks cafe when she heard a commotion. “I was coming out of there and everybody was just screaming and running for their lives. I ran straight into a shop and stayed in there until the coast was clear. It was a lady that he attacked.”
A shop worker, who gave his name as Jordan, told the PA Media news agency: “A man was running around with a knife lunging at multiple people, one of which came into my store shaken with a small graze. Soon after, security staff told all retail staff to close their doors and move the public to the back of the stores.” Shazia Asif, 40, a carer from Oldham, said: “I was upstairs shopping in the Next. I looked down to outside the Starbucks and saw a woman had been stabbed. There was a lot of blood.
Jordan, 23, who has been working at the centre for only a few months, said the attack took place on the ground floor. “Somebody had a scarf around her arm – I think she had been stabbed in the arm. They then said, ‘Get out.’ I was just shocked. I didn’t see anyone running away.”
Freddie Houlder, 22, from Market Drayton, was also in the centre when he heard “a load of screams just outside” the shop he was in. He said a woman came inside and told others: “A guy just ran past the shop and tried to stab me.” One man, who did not wish to be named, was working in a fire and security services office across the road from the Arndale and spotted police detaining a man with a knife just before the alarm was raised about the stabbings.
He 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. He said: “They pinned a guy against a wall. Then I saw a policewoman with them holding a foot-long knife in a tube – I didn’t see if it had blood on it. It was about 12 inches long and looked like a machete.”
In response to the incident, Boris Johnson tweeted: “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.” On Friday afternoon a cordon remained around the shopping centre as forensic teams searched the area. Shops in the centre remained closed as some workers were allowed back in to collect their personal belongings.
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, tweeted: “Shocked and saddened to hear about the events that have taken place at the Arndale centre in Manchester. I will remain closely informed and updated on the situation.” The investigation into the attack was focusing on whether the suspect was incited by Islamist propaganda and how big a part mental health issues may have the played.
The UK’s threat level is severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. In recent days, there have been suspected terrorist attacks in France and Germany, but other incidents in the UK suggest motives can be hard to determine in the immediate aftermath. The man arrested was not believed to have previously known to counter-terrorism authorities. He was not on a list of 3,000 current subjects of interest run by MI5 or their list of 20,000 former subjects of interest.
Placing the north-west counter-terrorism unit in charge of the investigation of the Manchester stabbings is a precaution at this stage. Rapid inquiries into the person in custody will determine whether it stays in the lead, or whether the incident passes back to regular police. Sources stressed the motives in the case seemed initially harder to discern than normal and that the investigation was at a very early stage in understanding what drove the attack.
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