British police on Tuesday questioned a 17-year-old suspect who was arrested after a “brutal” knife attack that left three children dead and eight others seriously injured.
Flowers, teddy bears and tributes have been laid near the scene of a stabbing incident at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, near Liverpool, on Monday, which left two adults and six children seriously injured and three other children injured.
Police Chief Serena Kennedy said the two adults were trying to rescue the children, ages 6 to 11.
Swift said Tuesday that she was “in total shock.”
“The loss of life and innocence, and the terrible trauma that was caused to all of the people there, the families and the first responders. These were all young children in dance class. I don’t know how to express my condolences to these families,” she said.
Residents of Southport, a small seaside town popular with summer tourists, have still not recovered from the attack.
“I’m still in total shock — I can’t believe it happened so close to my home,” Leanne Hassan told reporters Tuesday.
She had gone to collect her daughter from a nearby nursery, which was closed after the attack.
She said her daughter is safe, “but unfortunately that’s not the reality for most parents waking up today.”
Police Chief Kennedy confirmed that the attack was not being treated as terrorism-related and the attacker’s motive was unclear.
Establishing Objectives
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the incidents were “truly appalling, the whole country is in deep shock.”
“The grief is almost impossible to imagine,” he said.
Interior Minister Yvette Cooper visited Southport on Tuesday to meet with Kennedy and other officials, where a memorial service was held in the evening for the victims.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told Sky News that Starmer is also likely to visit the community.
Merseyside Police said the 17-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder was from the neighbouring village of Banks and was born in the Welsh capital, Cardiff.
Eyewitnesses told British media that the attacker was seen arriving at the scene in a taxi, and that he was wearing a mask.
Police said officers were reported to the incident shortly before 1100 local time on Monday, just minutes before the dance event was due to end.
Armed officers detained the suspect and confiscated the knife.
The suspect was detained at the police station on Tuesday and police said interrogation was ongoing “to ascertain the motive behind this tragic incident”.
Targeted attacks on children are extremely rare in the UK.
horror movie
Monday’s incident brought back memories of the 1996 school massacre in the Scottish town of Dunblane, which left 16 young pupils and their teacher dead in Britain’s worst mass shooting.
The North West Ambulance Service said it treated 11 people with knife injuries, who were taken by ambulance and helicopter to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and other hospitals in the area.
Local businessman Colin Parry, one of the people who called the police, told the Press Association (PA) news agency he believed “several young girls” had been stabbed.
He said one of his staff members also saw “about 10 children running from him, all covered in blood, and one of them collapsed on the floor outside a neighbour’s house.”
Local shop owner Bere Varathan told PA that he saw “seven to 10 children” who were “injured and bleeding.”
Other witnesses told British media they heard screams and likened the attack to a scene from a horror film.
King Charles III expressed his “heartfelt condolences, prayers and deepest sympathies” and described the incident as “extremely appalling”.
Prince William and his wife Catherine posted on X that “as parents, we cannot imagine what the families, friends and loved ones of those killed and injured in Southport are going through today”, calling it a “heinous attack”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
