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Manchester Arndale stabbings: Praise for people who 'intervened' in attack | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
A Manchester Arndale worker and a member of the public have been praised for helping to stop a suspect who stabbed three people. | |
A man "lunged" at people in the shopping centre on Friday and attacked a 19-year-old woman, a man in his 50s and another woman, who are in hospital. | |
Two others were hurt, but none of the injuries are thought to be life-threatening. | |
The suspect has been detained under the Mental Health Act. | |
Witnesses said people were "screaming and running" as they evacuated the centre after a man started to attack shoppers with a large knife. | |
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson, from Greater Manchester Police, said: "We know that at least one member of staff from the Arndale and a member of the public intervened in the attack and we would like to praise and thank them for their bravery." | |
At a press conference earlier, police revealed they had searched a property in the city where the suspect lived. | |
Officers said they were trying to establish if he had any political, religious or ideological motivation for the attack, although nothing has so far has come to light. | |
The 40-year-old man, from Manchester, was initially arrested on suspicion of assault and then re-arrested on suspicion of terror offences before he was detained under the Mental Health Act. | |
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said officials were keeping an "open mind". | |
"It's important not to jump to any conclusions although what I can say is that, at this stage, it would appear to be more mental-health related than political or religiously motivated. | |
He said the attack appeared to be "an isolated incident" and urged people to "go about their weekend" as they had planned. | |
The shopping centre, which is close to the arena where a terror attack killed 22 people in 2017, re-opened for business on Saturday. | |
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: "Every time we have had an incident of this sort in the city, Manchester shows its resilience, its ability to come together and its determination to get on with business - to get on with life - and that's what we see today." | |
Mr Burnham added the attack highlighted "the debate about knife crime" and he would ask police to consider "more use of stop-and-search powers but in a way that is intelligence-led, non-discriminatory". | |
"Like other cities in the UK, in the past few years, Greater Manchester has seen an increase but… we actually recorded a significant fall over summer 2019 and that was, in part, due to a more targeted use of stop-and-search powers. | |
The force has appealed for anyone who was in the Arndale at the time to send images or footage via its website. |