Horror knife attack rocks Glasgow, Scotland
A ‘hungry’ knifeman has been shot dead by police after attacking six people, including a policeman, during a stabbing spree in Glasgow.
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Male stabbing suspect shot dead by police in Glasgow
Six injured including a 42-year-old police officer
Police say the incident is not terror related
Boris Johnson ‘deeply saddened’ by the attack.
Hero Scottish police officer Constable David Whyte is fighting for his life in hospital after a stabbing rampage at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Glasgow.
A crazed stabber was killed by police after he injured six others, including Constable Whyte.
Witnesses have revealed the carnage inside the Park Inn Hotel in Glasgow where asylum seekers had been moved during the coronavirus lockdown in the UK.
The motive for the attack remains unclear, but police have so far ruled out terrorism.
The attack unfolded at 12.50pm local time on Friday (9.50pm AEST time), with police arriving on the scene two minutes later.
Armed police were also called and they arrived and shot the suspect dead, which will be reviewed as part of a standard procedure.
The hotel was in Glasgow’s city centre, which had just been picking up pace in trade as coronavirus restrictions were starting to be eased.
Scottish Police Chief Constable Iain Livingston said the incident, while terrible, was rare in Scotland.
“My thoughts and very best wishes are with those who have been injured and their families, including our colleague Constable David Whyte who was seriously injured in the course of doing his duty. I offer my personal support to all those affected,” he said.
Witnesses said at least two of the victims were reception staff at the hotel.
The motive for the stabbings remains unclear, but police said it was not being treated as a terrorism incident.
It was initially feared three people, including the suspect, were killed during the rampage.
Screams rang out at the hotel around 1pm local time, before guests ran out of their rooms to see victims covered in blood, before cops burst in and shot the attacker dead.
The charity Positive Action In Housing confirmed that it had used the 91-room hotel to look after asylum seekers, but declined to comment further.
It comes after a Libyan asylum seeker last week killed three people in a terror attack in a park in Reading, an hour’s drive west of London.
The Sun reports, a hero delivery driver revealed his frantic battle to save the life of a bloodied knife rampage victim.
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Recalling the horror, the driver said: “I went into the hotel and a guy had stabbed the receptionist and maintenance guy.
“He then ran back up to his room. I was trying to stem the blood of the maintenance guy when the armed police rushed in and went up to his room and shot the guy.
“It was absolute carnage, I was on the floor trying to hold the guy, the maintenance guy – a big puncture wound.
“It was absolutely horrific.”
One of the injured victims being treated at Glasgow Royal Infirmary is understood to be a 17-year-old boy from Sierra Leone, BBC Scotland reports.
The other four injured males are aged 18, 20, 38 and 53.
David Hamilton, chairman of The Scottish Police Federation which represents police, said the male officer had serious injuries.
“I understand that he’s been stabbed and that he’s in a critical but stable condition,” he said.
“I think it’s just horrific, this is what you dread as a police officer going into a scene like this. It’s something that police officers have to do, we have to walk into danger.
“It’s pretty clear that the circumstances they have been met with were really pretty horrific and what they would have had to deal with has been exceptionally brave in terms of their actions thereafter.”
KNIFEMAN WAS ‘HUNGRY’
Another witness who was inside the hotel said that he saw two people stabbed, with the reception area covered in blood.
“One receptionist had been stabbed behind the receptionist desk,” he said.
“And then when I went down to the entrance I shouted at him and told him to stay calm and I will call for help.
“When I went to the entrance I saw another receptionist was fighting for his life and had been stabbed.
“There were two police officers there assisting him.”
Owners Radisson confirmed the Park Inn was partly being used as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, a policy which has received criticism from campaigners.
The knifeman is believed to have been an asylum seeker, Whitehall and police sources told The Guardian.
He was from Sudan and had threatened other refugees rehoused in the hotel after complaining he was “very hungry”, the Telegraph was told.
Deeply saddened by the terrible incident in Glasgow, my thoughts are with all the victims and their families.
— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) June 26, 2020
Thank you to our brave emergency services who are responding.
Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party which was based on an anti immigration platform, said that the Glasgow incident was horrible.
“All over the UK, hotels are filling up with young men who are coming across the Channel every day,” he said on Twitter.
“It is a massive risk to our wellbeing — yet the government does nothing.”
But Scottish Justice Minister Humza Yousaf said: “The incident in Glasgow is not being treated by Police as terrorism.
“Depressingly yet predictably some are using (a) horrific incident to further their far-right agenda. Glasgow won’t stand for your divisive hatred, so don’t even try it.”
Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told people to avoid the area.
“Please follow advice to avoid the West George Street area of Glasgow while @policescotland deal with this ongoing incident,” she said on Twitter.
Parts of this article originally appeared in The Sun and are republished here with permission.
