The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Hunt for suspect as man dies in city knife attacks
Terrorist motive ruled out over incident that left seven injured
Police are searching for one suspect after a series of stabbings in Birmingham city centre in which a man was killed and seven people injured.
West Midlands Police declared a major incident after reports of a knife attack in the early hours of yesterday, with further stabbings then reported.
Announcing the launch of a murder investigation, the force said in statement: “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.”
Chief Superintendent Steve Graham said there was “absolutely no suggestion” the incident was “terror- related ” and it appeared to be “random”.
He told a press conference officers were treating four incidents in Constitution Hill, Livery Street, Irving Street and Hurst Street as linked.
He said no arrests had been made and police were looking for a male suspect.
“Already we’ve got people going down drains, we’ve got that level of detailed searches taking place which will hopefully reassure the people that we are doing everything we can do to trace the offender,” said Mr Graham.
He said there had been a number of descriptions of the suspect but police were not yet releasing details
and asked the public to come forward if they had information or footage.
Mr Graham said there was no known connection between the victims in the four linked incidents and extra officers had been deployed in Birmingham.
Two people who were critically injured were still being treated, he said.
He added that there was “absolutely no suggestion” of guns being involved, nor evidence it was motivated by hate towards any
particular group, or gangrelated.
On Twitter, Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the emergency services, tweeting: “All my thoughts are with those affected by the terrible incident in Birmingham last night.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel also said “all her thoughts” were with people affected by the “shocking incident”.
“Our emergency services are working hard to find
whoever is responsible and bring them to justice,” she tweeted.
We s t Midlands Ambulance Service ( WMAS) said it sent 14 ambulances in response to the stabbings.
A team of St John Ambulance volunteers at the SafeSpace project at the Arcadian venue also treated casualties.
Seven patients were treated by ambulance staff – five of whom were taken to the major trauma
centre at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
Three of the five taken to the major trauma centre had critical injuries and one man died shortly after arrival, WMAS said.
The ambulance service said an eighth patient with minor injuries did not need ambulance treatment.
West Midlands Police said the incidents wee between 12.30am and 2.20am and officers were still at scenes across the city, including Livery Street,
Irving Street and Hurst Street.
Forensic officers could be seen searching city centre streets yesterday morning.
Mr Graham said in an earlier statement: “The events during the early hours of this morning are tragic, shocking and understandably frightening.
“Please be assured we are doing absolutely everything we can to find whoever was responsible and try to understand what exactly happened.”