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Two children have been killed and nine people injured in a knife attack near a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in Southport, north of Liverpool.
Six children and two adults remain in critical condition in hospital with knife wounds.
Armed police arrested a 17-year-old boy and seized a knife. An eyewitness said the incident looked like “a scene from a horror movie”. The suspect is from Banks, a village near Southport.
Merseyside Police confirmed the incident was not currently being treated as terrorism-related, while the motive for the stabbing remains unclear.
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Merseyside Police Chief Serena Kennedy told reporters the injured adults would have protected the young victims.
She said: “It is understood the children were attending a Taylor Swift event at a dance hall when the offender, armed with a knife, entered the premises and began attacking inside.
“We believe the injured adults were bravely trying to protect the children who were being attacked.”
The teenager, from Cardiff, was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and remains in police custody.
A local business owner, who was among those who called police, said he believed six or seven “young girls” had been stabbed.
Have you been affected by this incident? Email holly.evans@independent.co.uk
Colin Parry, owner of Masters Vehicle Body Repairs on Hart Street, said: “Mums are coming here now and screaming.
“It’s like a scene from a horror movie,” he added. “The police arrested him. It’s like we’re in the States, not sunny Southport.”
Another local resident, Ryan Carney, said his mother heard “screams and cries” before seeing paramedics pulling out young children “covered in blood”.
“She came out and there was a woman screaming, saying she couldn’t find her child,” he added.
“They let her into the cordon, she ran and all she could hear was screaming and crying, saying, ‘That’s my child! That’s my child!'”
In a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, North West Ambulance Service said it received an emergency call at 11.48am regarding multiple stabbings.
They added: “We have dispatched 13 ambulances as well as specialist resources from our Hazardous Area Response Team, an air ambulance and medics to the scene.
“So far NWAS has treated eight patients with stab wounds who have been taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby Hospital.”
In a statement, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital confirmed it was a major incident and warned parents to avoid taking their children to the emergency department unless it was an emergency.
Bare Varathan, 35, who owns a grocery store on Hart Street, said he was called by a staff member who told him: “Boss, go to the grocery store!” He said: “I saw seven to 10 children outside the daycare. They were injured, bleeding. They were on the road, running away from the daycare.”
“They had been stabbed here, here, here, everywhere,” Varathan said, in the neck, back and chest. “They were all about 10 years old. One of them was really badly injured.”
He added that emergency services had taken to the streets and the suspect is believed to have arrived in a taxi with a knife.
One local resident recalled seeing a mother screaming hysterically for help as children were being treated by paramedics. He said: “She was screaming, ‘My daughter has been stabbed.'”
“The woman was having a nervous breakdown. Then two police cars came down the street going the other way. It was a mother and her 10-year-old daughter who had been stabbed.”
A large police cordon was deployed around the building, with officers guarding each end.
Officers and vehicles can be seen from a distance inside the cordon, including crime scene officers in white jumpsuits.
Sir Keir Starmer shared his condolences: “Today’s events are truly horrific and I know the whole country is deeply shocked by what they have seen and heard.
“I know I speak for all citizens across the country when I say that our thoughts and condolences go out to the victims, their families, their friends and the community at large. It is impossible to imagine what they are going through right now.”
The King said he and the Queen were “deeply shocked”. Charles added: “We extend our deepest condolences, prayers and sympathy to the families and loved ones of those who have so tragically lost their lives, and to all those affected by this truly appalling attack.”
A parent, who asked not to be named, said his daughter was “traumatized” by the attack. “My daughter was in the incident and she was traumatized. She ran away and she is safe,” he said.
A woman who lives nearby told the The Liverpool Echo that residents had warned each other on WhatsApp groups to lock their windows and doors.
She said: “It was about twenty past midnight, I think, and we heard a lot of sirens and then there was a helicopter circling overhead.
“Then messages started circulating in local WhatsApp groups, saying ‘lock your windows, lock your doors’, we were told that a man was running around stabbing people.”
“We’re all terrified, panicked and worried. Everyone is trying to reach someone they know in the neighborhood. I don’t know how this can happen on a Monday afternoon.”
Leigh Walton, owner of Yates Motor Engineers, told Sky News he could see the aftermath of the knife attacks from his garage.
He said: “The first thing I noticed was the sirens going off in the street. I heard something big had happened. Then the police helicopters and the many air ambulances came. You could see it was something big, something important.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she was “deeply concerned” by the “very serious incident”.
Patrick Hurley, MP for Southport, said: “I am deeply saddened by the news that two children have been fatally injured. I hope for a speedy and full recovery for all the other victims of this senseless attack.”
