At least 11 injured in Michigan Walmart stab attack

At least 11 people were injured in a stabbing at a Walmart store in the US state of Michigan, with police saying it appeared to be a random attack. A 42-year-old man was in custody.

Police tape off the parking lot of the Walmart store after the stabbing incident in Traverse City, Michigan. Picture: Jan-Michael Stump/Traverse City Record-Eagle via AP

At least 11 people were injured in a stabbing at a Walmart store in the midwestern state of Michigan on Saturday, with police saying it appeared to be a random attack.

A 42-year-old man was in custody, Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea said. “Based on the information we have at this time, it appears they were random acts,” he said of the attack in Traverse City, Michigan.

“The victims were not predetermined,” he said, adding that the suspect, a Michigan resident, apparently acted alone and used a “folding knife”.

Six victims were in critical condition on Saturday, and five were in serious condition, Munson Healthcare said in a statement.

At least three of the victims were undergoing surgery, according to Mr Shea. The victims included six men and five women.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she was in touch with law enforcement regarding the “horrible news”.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence,” Ms Whitmer said in an X post.

Witness Julia Martell said she heard screaming and saw a man with a knife running through the store’s pharmacy section.

Ms Martell said she saw the man shoving and stabbing people as he moved through the store.

The 30-year-old described seeing three people with stab wounds and “blood everywhere”.

Mr Shea said the stabbing spree initially started near the checkout area of the store. “It is very uncommon for our area,” he said of the violence, adding that citizens in the Walmart “assisted” in apprehending the suspect.

Traverse City is a popular tourist destination located on the shore of Lake Michigan.

FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said agents were providing “any necessary support to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office in their investigation of the attacks at the Walmart”.

In a separate incident, police arrested a suspect in a shooting at the University of New Mexico campus on Friday that left one person dead and another injured.

The university campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was under a shelter-in-place order following the shooting in a student apartment building.

Authorities launched a search for the suspect, who was believed to be carrying a firearm. He was found on Friday afternoon off campus and arrested without incident, state police said.

School officials haven’t named the victim but police said he was a 14-year-old male

The University of New Mexico Hospital also reported that a 19-year-old male had come in with a gunshot wound and said it had happened on the university ­campus.

The initial investigation found that the incident involved four individuals who were inside a dorm room. At some point, the suspect, 18, allegedly began shooting a firearm at the other occupants in the room, and then fled, authorities said. Police have yet to determine a motive.

With Agencies