2 children killed and others injured in stabbing at dance class in England

LONDON — Bloodied children ran screaming from a dance and yoga class “as if they were in a horror movie” to escape a teenager’s stabbing attack that left two children dead and 11 others injured in northwest England on Monday, police and witnesses said.

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in a stabbing attack in Southport, a seaside town near Liverpool, Merseyside Police said. The motive was not clear, but police said detectives were not treating the attack as terror-related.

Nine children were injured, six of them critically, in the latest high-profile attack amid a recent surge in knife crime that has fuelled fears and led to calls for the government to take a tougher approach to stabbing weapons.

Two injured adults who tried to protect the students were in critical condition, police said.

“We believe the adults who were injured were bravely trying to protect the children who were attacked,” said Merseyside Police Chief Serena Kennedy.

The Taylor Swift-themed workshop was held during the first week of the school holidays for children aged about 6 to 11. The two-hour session was led by two women — a yoga instructor and a dance instructor — according to an online listing.

Witnesses reported hearing bloodcurdling screams and seeing children covered in blood running from the business, which hosted everything from pregnancy workshops and meditation sessions to women’s boot camps.

“They were on the road, running from the nursery,” said Bare Varathan, who owns a shop nearby. “They were stabbed, here, here, here, everywhere,” pointing to the neck, back and chest.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack “appalling and deeply shocking.” King Charles III sent his “condolences, prayers and deepest sympathy” to those affected by the “utterly appalling incident.”

Shortly before noon, police were called to a street where, behind rows of brick houses, several small businesses are located in the city of about 100,000.

The first officers to arrive on the scene were shocked to see so many casualties in the “savage attack,” mostly children with serious injuries, Kennedy said.

According to Colin Parry, owner of a car body repair shop, most of the stabbing victims were young girls.

“The mothers are coming here now and screaming,” Parry said. “It’s like a scene from a horror movie. … It’s like something from America, not like sunny Southport.”

The suspect, who has not been identified, lived in a village about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the scene of the attack, police said. He was originally from Cardiff, Wales.

Ryan Carney, who lives on the street with his mother, said his mother saw responders carrying children “covered in red, covered in blood. She said she could see the stab wounds on the children’s backs.”

“All that stuff never really happens here,” he said. “You hear about it, stabbings and stuff like that in big cities, you Manchesters, you Londons. This is sunny Southport. That’s what people call it. The sun is shining. It’s a lovely place to be.”

The worst attack on children in Britain came in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 pre-schoolers and their teacher in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland. The UK subsequently banned the private ownership of almost all handguns.

Mass shootings and gun killings are rare in Britain. In the year to March 2023, knives were used in around 40% of murders.

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