BOY 13 DIES IN LONDON SWORD ATTACK, FOUR OTHERS HOSPITALIZED, INCLUDING TWO POLICE OFFICERS

Tue 30 April 2024:

A boy, 13, has died after a man with a sword went on a rampage near Hainault Tube station in northeast London. Two police officers also suffered significant injuries. A 36-year-old has been arrested. The incident took place in a residential and quiet area, on the border between Essex and east London.

Footage shared on social media shows the suspected attacker – a man dressed in a mustard yellow hoodie and black trousers – wielding a sword in his right hand.

Man with sword 'attacks people and police officers' near Hainault station, London

Five people are in hospital and two police officers are said to be among those attacked. pic.twitter.com/9zabBaSKKD

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) April 30, 2024

He is recorded walking from one house to another and then crouching down behind some bushes.

Shouting can be heard in the background and a police van is on the scene.

Witness describes ‘shrieking and shouting’ at scene

A witness to the incident in Hainault said he heard shrieking at about 7am before witnessing a man dressed in yellow clothing jumping over some fences.

The man, who asked not to be named, said: “I heard shouting, I heard shrieking – I thought ‘who would be shrieking at this time in the morning?’

“The shrieking sounded like the police – you know when they are ordering someone to stop or to get on their knees or something – it was like that.

“It was like ‘stop where you are, put that down, put that down’ – that kind of thing.

“I looked out the back window because the noise was coming from back there, I saw a bloke dressed in yellow jumping over some fences… then he went down an alley like he was going back onto the street again.

“I saw a policeman and policewoman – normal coppers with the short-sleeved shirts – who chased after him and they were shouting for him to put it down.”

Police ‘tasered suspect’, witness says

A witness has told the BBC that the alleged attacker was tasered by police after trying to get into a house.

Manpreet Singh said he “has never seen anything like that before”.

Speaking to Radio 5 Live, he said: “I just walked out of the office, it was 7am and I heard chaos on the other side of the road.

“I saw a group of people, five or six of them, trying to fight off a guy – he had a sword on his hand.”

Mr Singh said one of the people fighting off the suspect was stabbed, while others tried to call the police and ambulance services.

“There was about seven or eight police cars entering that road and after another 10 minutes, I saw the guy running towards the station and entered the road opposite the station.

“He tried to get into one of the houses but couldn’t get into it and that’s when they tasered him.

“We saw police trying to catch him, and he was trying to fight [them] off. In a matter of 15 minutes, all this ha

Five people have been taken to hospital after the attack in Hainault, London ambulance service (LAS) has said.

An LAS spokesperson said in a statement:

We were called at 6.54am this morning to reports of an incident near Hainault underground station.

We sent resources to the scene including ambulance crews, clinicians in response cars, advanced paramedics and London’s air ambulance.

At this time we understand members of the public and two police officers had been attacked.

Working together with our emergency services partners, we treated five people on the scene and took all five to hospital. All crews have now left the scene.

A 36-year-old man is in custody and police say the incident is not thought to be terrorism-related.

A man with a sword has been arrested after an attack on members of the public and police officers in Hainault, east London, police have said.
Five people were taken to hospital after the incident, London ambulance service said.
The Metropolitan police said officers were initially called to reports of a vehicle being driven into a house in Thurlow Gardens.
The force said there were reports of people being stabbed during the incident and the suspect is understood to have gone on to attack other members of the public and two police officers.
A 36-year-old man was arrested at the scene and is in custody, police said.
The Met said it is not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident and it is not believed to be terror-related.
A picture of the alleged attacker has been circulating on social media.
Hainault underground station is closed due to a police investigation in the area, Transport for London said.
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he was “absolutely devastated” at hearing of the incident and was in close contact with the Met police commissioner.

Police investigating whether Hainault attack suspect had ‘history of mental ill-health’

The Guardian’s crime correspondent, Vikram Dodd, understands that police were investigating whether the suspect in the Hainault attack had a history of mental ill-health, and that at this early stage, that was a key line of inquiry as to any motive.

The Metropolitan police have only officially confirmed that a 36-year-old man is in custody and that the incident is not thought to be terror-related.

Rishi Sunak ‘shocked’ by Hainault attack

The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has described the attack in Hainault as “shocking” and said that “such violence has no place on our streets”.

The ambulance service said five people have been taken to hospital. Two police officers were reported to be among those who were attacked.

Khan condemns ‘devastating and appalling’ attack

London mayor Sadiq Khan has described the attack as “devastating and appalling”.

“I’m sure I speak on behalf of the entire city when I say our thoughts and prayers are with this young child and his family,” he says, speaking after the latest police update.

“What I do know is that the police and emergency services responded very quickly to the call-out from members of the public.

“The police and other emergency services were well aware this was a dangerous man with a sword.

“They ran towards him and not thinking about their own safety to protect other members of the public.”

He adds the incident shows the “dangers police officers face every day” and he thanked them “for their bravery”.

There will be additional police officers in the area, he says.

Knife crime offences in the capital

The PA news agency has looked at the change in the number of knife crime offences in the capital over recent years, and compared this to other police forces around England.

Knife crime offences in London recorded by the Metropolitan police rose year on year in the latest figures, but have not yet returned to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

An estimated 14,577 offences were recorded in the 12 months to December 2023, Home Office data shows.

This is up 20% from 12,119 in the previous 12 months, but is slightly below the 14,680 in the year to March 2020.

Of the 49,489 knife crime offences recorded in England and Wales in 2023, 29% were by the Metropolitan police, a higher proportion than any other force.

West Midlands police were second, accounting for 11% of the total (5,324 offences), and West Yorkshire police were third on 5% (2,349).

When looking at the number of offences per population, West Midlands police had the highest rate in 2023, with 180 per 100,000 people, followed by the Metropolitan police (165 per 100,000), then Cleveland police (143 per 100,000) and South Yorkshire police (110 per 100,000).

The Met was one of 23 forces in England and Wales to record a year-on-year increase in knife crime offences in 2023, with 17 recording a decrease and one reporting no change …

The figures do not include Greater Manchester police or the Devon & Cornwall force, due to data issues.