Image: DARREN STAPLES (AFP)
After an act of violence that left three dead and a van attack that injured three, British police cordoned off the city center of Nottingham on Tuesday and arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
According to their own statements, the police were initially called around 4 a.m. (local time, 5 a.m. CEST) after two bodies were found on Ilkeston Road. The road leads west out of Nottingham city center and connects two university campuses.
Neighbors heard screams
Neighbors on Ilkeston Road said they heard screams and saw a young man and woman being stabbed. The attacker, who was described by one of the eyewitnesses as a “black guy dressed completely in black with a hood and backpack”, then calmly walked away. The university confirmed that two of the fatalities were students.
After that, the police said they were dealing with another incident in the city center: a delivery van had crashed into three people and they had to be treated in the hospital. According to the authorities, one victim is in mortal danger, the other two were slightly injured.
Finally, another dead body was discovered about three kilometers from where the first two bodies were found. “We believe these three incidents are all related and we have one man in custody,” Nottinghamshire Police said.
Perpetrator arrested in the morning
Investigators were also on duty at a fourth location: officials arrested the alleged perpetrator there. A shaky video is said to show the action, which is said to have taken place around 5:30 a.m. “They dragged him out of the car and he fell to the ground. He struggled quite a bit,” student Demi Ojolow told PA. Photos from the scene showed a van with the door open. The radiator has dents, the windshield is cracked – it is unclear whether it was caused by bullets. Neighbors say they heard shots. There was a backpack on the floor.
The authorities called on witnesses to come forward and provide footage from surveillance cameras and “dashcams”. “We are in the early stages of the investigation to determine the motives behind these attacks and will update the public as soon as we have more information,” said local police chief Kate Meynell. She described the incidents as a “tragic sequence of events”. So far, the acts have not been declared acts of terrorism.
The police remain open to all assumptions and are working with counter-terrorism as usual under these circumstances, it said. Terrorist attacks have been carried out repeatedly in Britain in recent years, particularly by jihadists.
Headed straight for people
Eyewitness Lynn Haggitt told the BBC she was passed by a van driver near the Theater Royal on her way to work around 5.30am local time. “He looked in his mirror, saw a police car behind him, then accelerated,” she said. Then the man drove straight towards two people.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thanked the emergency services for dealing with a “shocking incident” in the central English city. He expressed his sympathy to the relatives of the victims on Twitter and wished the injured a speedy recovery. Interior Minister Suella Braverman also expressed “shocked and saddened”.
The three members of the British Parliament from Nottingham also reacted “shocked” in a joint statement on the online service Twitter. Nadia Whittome, Lilian Greenwood and Alex Norris stressed that Nottingham is a “beautiful city” and home to “brilliant people from all backgrounds”.
City locked down
Several roads remained closed in central Nottingham while a large police presence was deployed in the city. Tram traffic in the city, around 200 kilometers north of London, was suspended during the police operation. People in Nottingham have been urged to avoid the crime scenes and their surroundings.
Nottingham, around 175 kilometers as the crow flies north of the capital London, has around 324,000 inhabitants. The city is best known for the legend of Robin Hood, the heroic figure still serves as an advertising figure for many companies today.
Source: Nachrichten
