A 27-year-old man was arrested on Monday, September 7. He is suspected of being the perpetrator of several knife attacks that left one dead and two seriously injured overnight in Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city, police said on Monday. “We arrested a man on suspicion of murder and seven attempted murders for a series of knife attacks in Birmingham”, detailed the police of West Midlands County on Twitter. The victims seem to have been targeted ” randomly “.
A 23-year-old man died and another man and woman, aged 19 and 32, were seriously injured and are still hospitalized in critical condition. Five other people, aged 23 to 33, were less seriously injured. The events took place between 12:30 a.m. and 2:20 a.m. on Sunday in a very lively area of the city of Birmingham.
Police released CCTV footage of the suspect on Sunday evening and claim to have received “Many responses”. “One of those leads took us to the Selly Oak neighborhood this morning, where a man was arrested”, police said.
According to the first elements of the investigation, opened for murder, nothing allows at this stage to retain a terrorist hypothesis or that of a hate crime, not more than that of a conflict between gangs, explained Sunday, one of the chiefs of the police force, Steve Graham, at a press conference.
A call for witnesses launched by the police
Cara Curran, who works in the clubs of the Arcadian, a complex of bars, restaurants and nightclubs, explained Sunday to Agence France-Presse (AFP) to have witnessed multiple fights, more violent than those of a usual Saturday night. The 18-year-old described a night out “With a lot of tension”.
“It wasn’t the usual fights involving one or two people, she continued, it was groups of 15, 16 people, people got involved because friends came out of clubs to see what was going on. “ She also reported “Racial abuse” that she had never heard in the past in this place “Multicultural”, but without being able to explain the circumstances.
The police urged the population to be vigilant and appealed for witnesses. Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed “All [ses] thoughts ” to the victims of this “Terrible” event and its “Thanks to the emergency services”.
