Police hunt knifeman after fatal stabbing rampage
● 90-minute spree in Birmingham killed one and injured seven
A massive man hunt was underway last night for a lone knifeman who went on a 90 -minute rampage in Birmingham city centre, killing a man and injuring seven other people.
West Midlands Police declared a major incident after being called to reports of a stabbing just after midnight yesterday, before more calls came in of further attacks.
Detectives are now hunting a male suspect who managed to evade capture last night, with “significant resources” deployed, said senior police officers.
Police have since released CCTV footage of am an they want to speak to in relation to the stabbings.
Chief Superintendent Steve Graham, of West Midlands Police, said the incidents appeared to be “random”, with “no suggestion” the night’ s events were linked to terrorism.
He said: “A man has tragically died. Another man and a woman have suffered serious injuries and five others have also been injured, although their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.”
In the footage released by police, am an is shown wearing a dark-coloured peaked hat and zip -up ho o die with white drawstrings.
Also wearing dark-coloured trousers and shoes, he can be seen standing and walking at a street corner.
The force’s police and crime
commissioner David Jamie - son labelled the assaults“disturbing ”, with the violence en folding as revellers had been enjoying the night.
Speaking at a press conference yards from where the initial attacks unfolded, Mr Graham said there was also nothing suggesting it was a hate
crime or connected to gang violence.
He also moved to end speculation the violence was linked to people“squabbling over tables”.
Mr Graham said initial calls were to reports of a stabbing in Constitution Hill at about 12.30am, then at nearby Liver y Street next to Snow Hill railway station.
Paramedics said they responded to first reports of a call in Liver y Street, in the north of the city centre, at about 12.40am.
The attack er then moved “north to south” through the city centre, said Mr Graham, into the heart of the city’s Gay Village quarter.
However, it was more than an hour between the Li very Street violence and the next
attack in Irving Street, across the city, at 1.52am which left a man fatally injured.
Shortly afterwards, the emergency services were called to another knife assault in Hurst Street at 2am.
Savvas Sfrantzis, who owns Mykonos bar and grill in Hurst Street, said he witnessed a woman being repeatedly stabbed, just across the street, after he was alerted by her screams.
He said: “I looked at him, facing him, and I can see he had a blade, small, not very big, and he was stabbing her in the neck.”
Mr Graham said the wounds of those targeted“were consistent with people being attacked by knives” with “no suggestion of gun shots ”, despite initial reports gunfire
had been heard. Asked about a possible motive, Mr Graham said: “At this stage we can’t find a particular motive but it does appear to be random in terms of the selection of people who were attacked.”
He added: “We don’t know who the subject is.”
Mr Graham warned people coming to the city to give anyone suspicious “a wide berth” but added: “What we are not saying at the moment is that Birmingham is not a safe place to be.”
Asked how he could assert the city was safe with the attackers till at large, Mr Graham said the force had “a significant presence” of officers if the suspect was sighted.