Attacker stabbed woman, 11-year-old girl on London square popular with tourists: cops
An 11-year-old girl and her mom were stabbed by a crazed stranger in a bustling London tourist hotspot Monday — saved by a hero security guard who leaped in unarmed to tackle the stabber and wrestle away the bloodied knife.
The girl and her 34-year-old mom were outside a teashop next to a Lego store in Leicester Square when the stranger suddenly started stabbing them around 11:30 a.m., London’s Metropolitan Police said.
The girl was seriously injured but is expected to survive, cops said. Her mom was less seriously injured. Neither have been identified.
The attack is not being eyed as terrorism and has not been linked to a wave of violence across the UK following the recent slaying of three young girls by a knifeman at a Taylor Swift dance event.
Police praised those “who bravely intervened” and tackled the suspect, an unidentified 32-year-old man who was photographed being ‘cuffed at the scene.
Although they did not identify the heroes, a 29-year-old security guard told the Standard how he was first to leap to stop the bloodbath outside the teashop where he works.
“I just saw a kid getting stabbed and I just tried to save her. It’s my duty to just save them,” the guard, only giving a first name, Abdullah, told the London paper.
“I heard a scream … and he was stabbing a kid.
“I jumped on him, held the hand in which he was [carrying] a knife, and just put him down on the floor,” he said.
Abdullah said he “held him and took the knife away from him” as other bystanders joined in to pin the attacker to the ground until cops arrived four minutes later.
“They put themselves at risk and showed the best of London in doing so,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah, who is leading the investigation.
The attacker didn’t appear to know the attacked mom and daughter, the top cop said.
“While we continue to work to establish the suspect’s motive, at this stage there is nothing to indicate the attack was terror-related,” Jessah also stressed.
Witnesses described the horror of the scene, which unfolded seemingly at random in the heart of one of London’s most popular neighborhoods full of shopping, theaters, and restaurants.
About 2.5 million visitors pass through Leicester Square every week, many of them tourists.
“Someone was shouting, a man had hold of a child’s head and was stabbing her. People were just in shock. All these tourists around and children on their holidays. It seems to be getting worse and worse,” one witness told the Standard.
“I heard screaming. At first I thought it was another riot or protest starting or something. But then someone said ‘he’s stabbed a girl,’” said another, named Alice.
The stabbing comes after tense weeks in Britain following the fatal stabbing of three girls young at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, which led to false rumors spreading on social media that the 17-year-old attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Violent riots broke out across the country, prompting law enforcement across the country to remain on high alert over the weekend.
With Post wires.
