Glasgow attack: Scotland police respond to stabbing
A deranged man went on a stabbing rampage in Scotland’s biggest city Friday, injuring six men — including a cop and two teens — before the suspect was shot dead by police, authorities said.
The attack unfolded at around 1 p.m. local time at Glasgow’s Park Inn — a 91-room hotel that has been housing asylum-seekers and refugees during the coronavirus crisis.
Greater Glasgow police said officers were on the scene within two minutes and “armed officers shortly afterwards, and the incident was quickly contained.”
The suspect, whose identity was not immediately released, “was shot by armed police and has died,” authorities said.
A 42-year-old cop and the five other victims — ages 17, 18, 20, 38 and 53 — who were wounded during the stabbing spree were hospitalized. The officer was in critical but stable condition, authorities said.
Police said the incident was not being treated as terrorism, though a motive was not immediately clear.
The rampage unfolded in the reception area of the West George Street hotel, according to witnesses.
One man, who identified himself only as John, told local media that he came down from the third floor of the hotel and found the reception area covered in blood, along with two people who were stabbed.
“I went down to the entrance and shouted at him and told him to stay calm and I will call for help,” John said of one victim, adding that he saw another man who was “fighting for his life,” the BBC reported.
An asylum-seeker staying at the hotel recalled how he tried to flee after being woken by screaming.
“I summoned the lift but when the door opened it was covered in blood, all over the walls,” the man told The Times.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “deeply saddened by the terrible incident,” while Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, “It’s been a dreadful afternoon for the city of Glasgow.”
With Post wires