‘He had a knife and he came running after people. I was scared for my life’
THREE STABBED IN ARNDALE ATTACK AS MAN IS ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF TERROR OFFENCE
A SHOPPER has described the chilling moment she locked eyes with a knifeman on a stabbing spree at Manchester Arndale.
Three people were stabbed and a total of five injured as the terrifying attack unfolded shortly after 11.15am yesterday.
A man was originally detained on suspicion of assault, but was later re-arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.
He has now been assessed by specialist doctors and compulsorily detained under the Mental Health Act.
Greater Manchester Police said the suspect was 41 and black.
It is thought he is British and lives in Manchester.
A police press conference heard detectives believe the man attempted to attack several people, including two unarmed PCSOs who tried to detained him. He was eventually detained when PCSOs asked for backup and there was a full armed response.
A 19-year-old woman, another woman and a man in his 50s were stabbed and were later taken to hospital.
A woman in her 40s was not stabbed, but was assessed by paramedics. Another woman received a ‘superficial knife injury.’
One of the victims is thought to be from Northern Ireland. One eyewitness spoke to the M.E.N. of the moment she saw the knifeman. She said: “I was at Next. Everyone was running. They all came out, I ran as well. I didn’t know what was going on.
“We all came outside. I went to Exchange Square then I turned and saw him. “He had a knife, he was shouting, he was running after us. I was scared for my life. Wow. It was scary. I was 100 metres away. “He came out, he went back in the Arndale for 50 seconds.
“He came out and walked down the road shouting.
“Everyone was running, shouting. He came out running after people.
“I’m still scared right now to walk in this street.”
A number of shop workers were trapped inside the Arndale after police effectively locked down the shopping centre. They were finally released shortly after 4pm.
One worker described sheer panic as an announcement was made over the loud speaker, telling staff they needed to evacuate the store.
“I saw a few people run past the store,” he said.
“A few people warned us there were people running around. The next minute over the loud speaker they said ‘you need to evacuate.’ People were rushing everywhere. Everyone was panicking.
“I evacuated at 11.20am, at the time we didn’t know what was going on. We were just hoping for the best.”
Shoppers have said they could see a man ‘running around’ trying to attack as many people as possible.
One, Freddie Houlder, 22, said: “I was in a shop and a woman came in really quickly.
“She had been grazed by a knife, they locked the doors, they evacuated the shop 15 minutes after.
“They put curtains around where people have been stabbed.
“The woman was standing outside the shop. They caught the guy.
“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.”
Freddie added: “I was buying a pair of shoes. I would’ve been outside the shop actually in his path if I hadn’t bought them.”
A man was running around with a knife lunging at multiple people Arndale shop worker Jordan
One shop worker, who gave his name only as Jordan, 23, 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.”
Another witness, Shannon Hevey, 20, was in the food court with her sister aged 20 months old and friend Chloe Johnson.
She said: “It just came over the tannoy to leave. Everyone was panicking
“We had to go down four flights of stairs on our own with no help. There was no staff members there.”
Another witness said: “People came out hastily. No one knew what was going on. They thought it was a fire alarm.
“There was quite a lot of people. Then I realised something had happened.”
Video footage shared from inside the Arndale shows police officers running along the centre’s corridor as shop workers pull down shutters.
Messages were sent to Arndale workers on an internal app system advising staff to close shutters if they have not evacuated their premises.
A floor manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “It was an announcement over the radio saying ‘do not evacuate yet but something has happened.’
“We got told to put our shutters down. We opened the shutters and the tannoy said ‘evacuate,’ so we were gone. When we first came out, no one knew what was going on.
“Now we’ve heard it, it’s awful.”