Knife and van attack leaves three dead and three injured in Nottingham

After a vehicle and knife attack in Nottingham, three people have died and three others are in the hospital.

Witnesses described terrible incidents with people crying as they were being stabbed and others being run over by a van early on Tuesday morning.

Following the rampage, the 31-year-old suspect was apprehended by police on suspicion of murder in the city’s Bentinck Road at around 5.30am.

Although the police have not yet stated if the act is being treated as terrorism, it is known that the individual has a history of mental illness.

Around 4 am, the first two victims were discovered in Ilkeston Road, a student neighborhood in Nottingham, and a third victim was found in Magdala Road.

A van in Milton Street also injured three other people, who are now receiving medical attention.

In Ilkeston Road, not far from the intersection with Bright Street, a witness told the BBC that he seen a young male and a young woman being stabbed.

The man, who did not give his name, said he heard “awful, blood-curdling screams” and looked out of his window to see a “black guy dressed all in black with a hood and rucksack grappling with some people”.

He told the broadcaster: “She was screaming: ‘Help!’ I just wish I’d shouted something out of the window to unnerve the assailant.

“I saw him stab the lad first and then the woman. It was repeated stabbing – four or five times. The lad collapsed in the middle of the road.

“The girl stumbled towards a house and didn’t move. The next minute she had disappeared down the side of a house, and that’s where they found her.

“I’d say it all happened within five or six minutes. The attacker then just walked off up Ilkeston Road towards town, as calm as anything.”

The man claimed that after calling the police, who arrived in less than five minutes, paramedics attempted to revive the two for 40 minutes.

Tuesday saw the continuation of police action around Ilkeston Road, with some of the street being blocked off and armed policemen stationed, some of whom were from South Yorkshire Police and Derbyshire Police.

A police van picked up two people from one commercial building just before noon.

Police were also manning a terraced house, which neighbors’ hair salon employees claimed had been raided the previous year.

The guy was reportedly resisting as police took him out of a white van, according to witnesses in Bentinck Road.

Student Demi Ojolow, who lives in the road, said: “I just saw the police shouting at him to get out of the car and get on the floor.

“And they dragged him out of the car and he just fell on the floor. He was still pretty wrestling at the point.

“They dragged him away and that was about it.”

Ms. Ojolow claimed that police were pointing a weapon of some sort at the man, though she was unsure if it was a Taser or a gun.

The van that was abandoned at the site had its windscreen and bonnet damaged.

Dimitrious Lawani, a different resident of Bentinck Road, showed up on the scene as the man was being taken out of the van.

He said: “There’s two of them pulling him and two behind pointing at him – I think those were Tasers.”

The witness said they shouted: “Get down, get out, stop fighting.”

Mr Lawani said: “He was being quite resistive – very resistive from what I could tell – and he was also making a lot of noise, but I couldn’t really distinguish what he was saying.”

Wide-ranging road restrictions have been implemented in Nottingham’s city centre, affecting streets such Ilkeston Road, Milton Street, Maples Street, and Woodborough Road, as well as Magdala Road and Maid Marian Way at the intersection of Parliament Street.

As the police investigation went on, the tram network was also interrupted, with all services on the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) suspended.

Nottinghamshire Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: “This is a horrific and tragic incident which has claimed the lives of three people.

“We believe these three incidents are all linked and we have a man in custody.

“This investigation is at its early stages and a team of detectives is working to establish exactly what has happened.

“We ask the public to be patient while inquiries continue. At this time, a number of roads in the city will remain closed as this investigation progresses.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thanked the emergency services for their response to the “shocking incident”, adding: “My thoughts are with those injured, and the family and loved ones of those who have lost their lives.”

Suella Braverman, the home secretary, also expressed dismay over the deaths and mentioned that Nottinghamshire Police had been providing regular updates.

Lynn Haggitt, another witness, told Channel 4 News that she observed two individuals being struck by a van.

“I saw a van pull up at the side of me,” she said. “It was white, all white. There was a police car behind it, coming up slowly, no flashing lights.

“The man in the driver’s seat looked in his mirror and saw the police car behind him.”

She said the white van then drove up to “the corner of the street and went into two people”.

“The lady ended up on the kerb, and then he backed up the white van and he went… speeded up Parliament Street with the police cars following him,” Ms Haggitt added.

She informed the station that the man who was hit sustained a head injury but was able to stand up while she was seated on the kerb.

East Midlands Ambulance Service and Nottingham Fire & Rescue both acknowledged they were coping with the attacks’ aftereffects.