NI WOMAN INJURED IN MANCHESTER ATTACK THREE STABBED AT SHOPPING CENTRE
A Northern Ireland woman who was stabbed in a terrorist attack at Manchester’s Arndale shopping centre yesterday has been named locally as Chloe McGurk.
Ms McGurk (19) who comes from the Glengormley area, was on a shopping and leisure trip to the English city when a man went on a knife rampage in the massive city centre mall, injuring four people.
It is understood the teenager has had surgery — but her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
A 41-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.
Posting on Facebook, one of Ms McGurk’s friends who was with her at the time, Ellen Da Conceicao, said she couldn’t get the knifeman’s face out of her head.
“All we wanted to do was come over to Manchester for a girly weekend, but instead the first shopping centre we step into this happens,” she wrote.
“We’re all so shaken and can’t for the life of us understand how someone could be so low to do this to our Chloe and other victims.
“I can’t get that man’s face and knife out of my head and probably won’t for a very long time.
“Chloe is on the mend and she thanks everyone for her support.
“We haven’t left her side and we should hopefully be home within the next few days after interviewing etc.
“Thank you all for the support, we all appreciate it.”
DUP councillor Alison Bennington, who represents the Glengormley area, told the Belfast Telegraph: “This is a dreadful thing to have happened.
“She’d just arrived there this morning to do some shopping — and then this happens!
“Dear help her. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s an horrific incident.
“My heart goes out to her — and to the other people who have been injured.”
The suspect was detained on suspicion of terrorism, Greater Manchester Police said. Police were called to the city’s Arndale Centre at 11.15am yesterday after reports of a stabbing.
Witnesses described a scene of terror as shoppers, some with injuries, sought refuge in stores.
Officers from Counter Terrorism Police North West were called in to investigate, and at around 3.15pm, Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said a suspect had been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.
Investigators don’t think anyone else was involved in the attack.
The Arndale Centre is just a few hundred yards from Manchester Arena and Victoria railway station — both of which have been the scene of recent terror attacks.
Twenty-two people were killed in May 2017 when Salman Abedi detonated a suicide bomb in the Manchester Arena following an Ariane Grande concert — the youngest victim was just eight years old.
In 1996, the Arndale Centre was damaged by an IRA bomb attack in which a 1,500-kilograms device on a lorry was detonated, injuring 200 people.