‘TERROR ATTACK’ AT MALL
Lone knifeman injures five during rampage in Manchester city centre
A LONE knifeman stabbed and slashed at random shoppers yesterday during a terrifying rampage.
Five people were injured during the attack which saw customers at Manchester’s Arndale Centre flee in fear and seek refuge in shops.
Shocking pictures showed the 41-yearold man dressed in a black jacket being pinned face-down on the pavement by police armed with Tasers. He was arrested as a terror suspect.
Witnesses described the suspect as carrying a machete as he began ‘running around’ and ‘going for as many people as possible’. Others described it as ‘like something out of a horror film’, with shoppers running in panic, shouting ‘knife’ and ‘bomb’, while police and paramedics raced to the scene. Announcements ordered shoppers to evacuate the building while an internal app advised store workers to close their shutters and take cover.
Within five minutes the suspect was detained alongside tram tracks outside the Arndale Centre, with one witness saying his weapon was ‘about 12 inches long and looked like a machete’.
It is understood the suspect – believed to be a British national from Manchester – was not previously known to MI5 or counter-terrorism police. Last night he was being detained under the Mental Health Act.
One of the victims was identified as Chloe McGurk, 19, from Northern Ireland.
A friend, Ellen Da Conceicao, who was with her at the time, wrote on Facebook: ‘All we wanted to do was come over to
‘Going for as many people as possible’
Manchester for a girly weekend, but instead the first shopping centre we step into this happens. 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 thanks everyone for their support.’
Miss McGurk is thought to have stab and slash injuries to her hand. She was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Janet Loudon, 21, said she saw ‘a black man shouting racial slurs and being very hostile towards an Arndale worker, who was also black’.
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 ***** .” That was when I heard that people had been stabbed and everyone was panicking and frantic.’
North West Ambulance Service said one patient suffered serious injuries. Two women, including a 19-year-old, were taken to hospital with stab injuries and their condition was described as stable. A man in his 50s was also taken to hospital with stab wounds. A woman in her 40s was treated by paramedics at the scene but she had not been stabbed.
The suspect was initially arrested for assault before being rearrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism. However, it is understood that he said nothing to indicate the attack was terror-related.
Russ Jackson, of Greater Manchester Police, said: ‘We do not know the motivation for this terrible attack. It appears random, is certainly brutal and of course extremely frightening for anyone who witnessed it.’
Investigators do not believe anyone else to be involved. They were last night examining the suspect’s computer and phone for evidence of radicalisation.
The incident brought back memories of Salman Abedi’s 2017 suicide attack, which killed 22 innocent people at the nearby Manchester Arena.
In 1996, the Arndale Centre was damaged in a massive IRA bomb attack which injured 200.