‘TERROR ATTACK’ AT SHOPPING MALL
Lone knifeman injures five during stabbing rampage
POLICE have arrested a suspected terror attacker after five people, including a teenage girl from Antrim, were stabbed by a man who ran around a Manchester shopping centre ‘lunging at people with a knife’.
Shoppers ran for cover and barricaded themselves into stores after the man swung a blade at random victims, knifing four women and a man near a Starbucks cafe at the city’s Arndale Centre.
Two unarmed police community support officers confronted the knifeman before he was cornered by officers with tasers. Witnesses said they saw police take away a ‘12-inch machete’.
A 41-year-old man from Greater Manchester is now being questioned by anti-terror officers on suspicion of ‘the commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism’.
One of the victims, who has been named locally as Chloe McGurk, is a 19-year-old from Co. Antrim on a ‘girly weekend’ in Manchester.
Her injuries are not life-threatening and one of her friends, Ellen Da Conceicao, wrote on Facebook: ‘All we wanted to do
This guy trying to stab random people
was come over to Manchester for a girly weekend but instead the first shopping centre we step into this happens.
‘We’re all so shook and can’t for the life of us understand how someone could be so low to do this.
‘I can’t get that man’s face and knife out of my head and probably won’t for a very long time.’
She said her friend is ‘on the mend’ and thanked everyone for their support.
One shopper described the ‘nightmare’ of seeing the knifeman plunging his blade into the back of one victim as he walked past Starbucks.
Photos of the crime scene showed the tables were overturned and some where covered in blood.
A witness said: ‘I heard a woman scream. I span around and saw this guy who had a knife in his hand.
‘It looked like he had stabbed her back. There was blood pouring from her and she just fell to the floor.
‘As soon as I saw the knife I just ran as fast as I could and was warning others what happened. Everyone was looking down from the first floor and there was real panic, people screaming.
‘The police were there in minutes and then we were evacuated. It was like a nightmare. Like something out of a horror film. It was awful. I can’t get that image out of my head.’
Four women, one aged 19, another in her 40s and two others whose ages are unknown, were injured along with a man aged in his 50s.
Two are in a stable condition in hospital but none of their injuries are said to be life-threatening.
Pictures from the scene show three conscious victims – two women and a man – being wheeled out of the shopping centre, sitting up on stretchers. The condition of the other two victims is unclear.
A photo from inside the centre shows paramedics and police dealing with a victim at a table outside a Starbucks coffee shop inside the mall.
Shopper Freddie Houlder, 22, was in the centre when he heard ‘a load of screams just outside’ the store he was in. He said a woman then came into the shop and told others ‘a guy just ran past the shop and tried to stab me’.
Mr Houlder said: ‘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. She was so lucky she was wearing a thick jacket... he was running around going for as many people as possible.
‘I definitely don’t think it was gang violence because this guy was going around trying to stab random people, I believe,’ he said.
Another store worker caught in the chaos said: ‘A man was running around with a knife lunging at multiple people, one of which came into my store visibly 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.’
Shopper Janet Loudon, 21, said: ‘I came out of work and saw a black man shouting racial slurs like ‘n **** r’ and being very hostile towards an Arndale worker, who was also black.
‘I carried on walking but saw police run inside the Arndale and heard someone shout ‘knife’ and another shout ‘bomb’ – I was frantically looking for my friend.
‘That was when I heard that people had been stabbed and 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.’
She added: ‘It wasn’t clear what the man was saying but he was swearing and telling the public “I’m going to f*** you up” repeatedly and he got more and more agitated. He was pointing at the police and Arndale workers and saying things like “just because I’m a n **** ”.’
Shopper Rachel Vickers, 37, saw the arrest. She said: ‘I saw the man on the ground after he’d been arrested. A female officer was holding what looked like a machete in a plastic tube.’
Another shop worker said: ‘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 12ins long and looked like a machete.’
Another local tweeted: ‘Some fella has just walked in Starbucks in the Arndale and stabbed a load of people apparently. Scary stuff.’
The Arndale Centre is just a few hundred yards from the 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 Ariana Grande concert – the youngest victim was just eight years old.
Last New Year’s Eve, three people including a police officer were seriously injured after a 25-yearold man launched a knife attack on passers-by.
The suspect was heard to shout ‘Allah’ and ‘Long live the Caliphate’ during the incident – he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and has been detained.
Telling the public ‘I’ll f*** you up’