Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TERROR AT THE SHOPS
Ulster teen among 3 stabbed during frenzied attack in Manchester
A KNIFEMAN is pinned to the ground by police after going on a shopping centre terror rampage yesterday.
Three people were treated for stab wounds, including 19-year-old Chloe Mcgurk from Glengormley, Co Antrim.
A witness at the Arndale Centre in Manchester said: “It was like a nightmare, something out of a horror film.”
ULSTER teen Chloe Mcgurk was on a “girly weekend” with friends when a knifeman stabbed victims during an unprovoked attack in a busy shopping centre yesterday.
The suspect was heard screaming racial abuse as he lunged at people in what police said was an act of terror.
He stabbed three before being wrestled to the ground by officers and tasered.
Armed police had surrounded the Arndale Centre in Manchester which was put into lockdown as the 41-year-old went on his rampage. Tables and chairs in a Starbucks coffee shop were seen overturned and splattered with blood.
Chloe, 19, from Glengormley, on the outskirts of North Belfast, is being treated for stab wounds following the incident but it is understood her injuries are not life-threatening. Her friend Ellen Da Conceicao posted: “All we wanted to do 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.”
Thankfully she said Chloe is “on the mend” following her ordeal and that she “thanks everyone for her support”.
Ellen added: “We haven’t left her side and we should hopefully be home within the next few days.
“Thank you all for the support – we all appreciate it.”
Chloe is understood to have suffered stab and slash injuries to her hand and was taken to Manchester Royal
Infirmary for assessment and treatment. A source at the scene said last night: “It appears she was injured when she put her hands up in a defensive movement when this man approached. She has been hurt but her injuries are not lifethreatening. “A woman in her 40s also received similar injuries and a third female was hurt too. A
man in his 50s suffered stab wounds to his back and side and needed emergency treatment. It is believed none of the knife wounds sustained are life-threatening.”
Three women and a man were taken to hospital with injuries while a fifth is understood to have presented with an injury later.
Glengormley DUP councillor Alison Bennington said the village was stunned after Chloe was caught up in the attacks.
She added: “The whole thing is crazy. I was shocked and horrified and the community is totally shocked that the young lady is from Glengormley.
“I wish her a speedy recovery and I am thinking about her and her family.
“In this day and age it shouldn’t happen, but she had got caught up on a day off, out shopping and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
A 41-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism following the incident just after 11am.
One shopper told how she saw a woman collapse after being stabbed by the suspect, who was dressed in black. The witness said: “I heard a woman scream. I spun around and saw this guy who had a knife in his hand.
“It looked like he stabbed her back. There was blood pouring from her and she fell to the floor. I ran as fast as I could and warned others what happened. There was real panic, people screaming.
“The police were there in minutes and 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.” A store worker caught in the chaos added: “A man was running around with a knife lunging at multiple people, one of which came into my store visibly shaken.
“Security 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.
“He was swearing and telling the public, ‘I’m going to f**k 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 **** r.’ We saw a victim slouched at an ATM which was horrific and she was taken away to be helped.”
Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said: “We do not know the motivation for this terrible attack.
“It appears random, is certainly brutal and extremely frightening for anyone who witnessed it.”
There was blood pouring from her. It was like a nightmare WITNESS ON WOMAN WHO WAS STABBED IN THE BACK