Hunt on for knife maniac who killed man in rampage
A KNIFE maniac who killed one man and injured seven others in a 90minute rampage was being hunted by UK police last night.
A CCTV image was released of the suspect who vanished at the end of the horrifying bloodbath.
He attacked his first victim on the north side of Birmingham city centre at around 12.30am yesterday before heading south into the gay quarter. The last stabbing was just after 2am.
Savvas Sfrantzis, 64, who owns a bar called Mykonos, said he saw the killer stab one young woman as many as seven times.
‘He put the knife in her neck and walked off – she was only young, maybe in her twenties,’ he added.
‘He didn’t panic, he didn’t look like he was worried. He looked relaxed about what he had done. He looked like he didn’t care for anything. I was surprised because I thought he would run away but he just walked.’
Mr Sfrantzis said a bar manager told the killer he recognised his face but he replied with a smirk: ‘Whatever.’ The businessman added: ‘The guy walks down the road, smirking and just walking, slow.’
A 23-year-old man was stabbed to death during the knife rampage and a man and a woman, aged 19 and 32, were critically wounded.
Five other people aged between 23 and 33 were injured. Two of the victims have left hospital so far. Steve Graham, Chief Superintendent of West Midlands Police, said: ‘We do not underestimate the impact that these incidents have had on the city.
‘We declared this a major incident at the earliest opportunity and we have drafted in scores of officers to help with the investigation and patrol the city to reassure residents and visitors that we are doing all we can to apprehend the person responsible.
‘We have worked throughout the day to trawl CCTV footage and speak to witnesses to ensure we release the best possible video and image of the man we want to speak to.
‘We believe that the attacks were random and we have no indication of a motive.’ A knife was found in a drain in Birmingham city centre but police said it was too early to link the weapon with the attacks.