Three People Killed in U.K. Rampage
Police forensic officers inspect a scene in Nottingham, U.K. Photo: lindsey parnaby/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock By Max Colchester June 13, 2023 10:41 am ET LONDON—British police arrested a man Tuesday after a suspected knife attack left three people dead and several injured in the city of Nottingham, in central England, following a rampage across the city in which several people were also run over by a van. Nottinghamshire Police said that they were working with counterterrorism units to identify the motive for the attack. “We are keeping an open mind as we investigate the circumstances surrounding these incidents,” said Chief Constable Kate Meynell. In what police say was a series of connected incidents, two people were found dead on a residential street near the city center just after
Police forensic officers inspect a scene in Nottingham, U.K.
Photo: lindsey parnaby/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
LONDON—British police arrested a man Tuesday after a suspected knife attack left three people dead and several injured in the city of Nottingham, in central England, following a rampage across the city in which several people were also run over by a van.
Nottinghamshire Police said that they were working with counterterrorism units to identify the motive for the attack. “We are keeping an open mind as we investigate the circumstances surrounding these incidents,” said Chief Constable Kate Meynell.
In what police say was a series of connected incidents, two people were found dead on a residential street near the city center just after 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning and a third man was then killed on another street on the other side of the city. Three people are also in hospital after being run over. A 31-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Much of the city center was cordoned off on Tuesday morning. The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that onlookers had seen two people being stabbed and police officers were filmed restraining a man next to a white van.
The current terror threat level in the U.K. is “substantial,” a middle-level rating which means an attack is deemed likely by security services. The number of people arrested in the U.K. for terrorist-related offenses in the year ended March 2023 was at its lowest level since 2011, according to government data. However, the head of MI5, the domestic security agency, warned last year that there were a number of self-radicalized terrorists in the U.K. prepared to use low-tech methods to attack people. The bulk of these are Islamic terrorists, he said.
In Britain, tight gun laws mean that mass shootings are extremely rare. Most terrorist attacks involve homemade bombs, knives or hitting pedestrians with vehicles.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the attack “a shocking incident.”
Write to Max Colchester at [email protected]
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