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Eight people, including six or seven young girls, were victimized in a mass stabbing attack in Southport in northwest England.
Merseyside Police were called to Hart Street in the town of 95,000 just before noon on Monday, and said they detained a man armed with a knife.
Police identified the suspect as “a 17-year-old male” from the nearby community of Banks and said the incident is “not currently being treated as terror-related.”
Colin Parry, owner of Masters Vehicle Body Repairs on Hart Street, told reporters that six or seven “young girls” had been stabbed.
“The mothers are coming here now and screaming. It is like a scene from a horror movie,” Parry told the PA news agency. “It’s like something from America, not like sunny Southport.”
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, urged the public not to spread “unconfirmed speculation and false information” and wait for official updates. Local authorities have not revealed much in the way of details about the attack, however, saying only that “there is no wider threat to the public.”
It was not clear which venue may have been targeted by the attacker. Tim Johnson, a journalist at the local outlet Eye on Southport,told the BBC that the incident happened at the Hope of Hart children’s club. A nearby yoga studio was holding a “Taylor Swift yoga and dance workshop” for elementary-school children at the time.
The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said it had dispatched 13 ambulances and special resources to the scene. So far, “eight patients with stab injuries” have been treated at Merseyside’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby hospital, NWAS said.
Alder Hey has asked parents to only bring children in for treatment “if it is urgent,” as the hospital’s emergency department is “currently extremely busy.”
“Horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from Southport. My thoughts are with all those affected,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the incident. “I am being kept updated as the situation develops.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the Southport incident as “very serious” and “awful,” thanking the emergency services for their “swift and courageous response.”
