Two children were killed and nine others were injured in a knife attack targeting a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in northern England on Monday, CNN reported, citing local police.
Merseyside Police said it received reports of a stabbing in Southport, north of Liverpool.
Serena Kennedy, the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, said six of the injured children are in critical condition, adding that the attack has also left two adults in critical condition.
According to the police, the attacker walked into the premises armed with a knife and started attacking the children.
“We believe that the adults who were injured were bravely trying to protect the children who were being attacked,” Kennedy said at a news conference on Monday evening.
Emergency services were called to a “major incident” in the town at around 11:50 am (local time). A 17-year-old boy was arrested at the scene.
“The investigation is in its early stages and the motivation for the incident remains unclear. However, Counterterrorism Police Northwest have offered their support,” Kennedy said.
The police said earlier that the incident was not treated as terror-related.
Local business owner Colin Parry, one of the people who called the police, said the incident in Southport was like a “scene in a horror movie,” CNN reported, citing PA Media.
Parry said he believed a number of young girls had been stabbed. “The mothers are coming here now and screaming. It is like a scene from a horror movie,” Parry said, adding that “police have got him.”
The Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Trust in Liverpool, about 20 miles from Southport, declared a “major incident,” as reported by CNN.
“The Trust is working with other emergency services to respond to this incident and our Emergency Department is currently extremely busy,” the hospital said in a statement posted to its website. “We ask parents to only bring their children to the emergency department if it is urgent,” it said.
Britain’s King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, said they were “profoundly shocked” by the incident.
“My wife and I have been profoundly shocked to hear of the utterly horrific incident in Southport,” King Charles said in a statement shared on the Royal Family’s official social media channels on Monday.
The couple went on to send their “most heartfelt condolences” to the “families and loved ones of those who have so tragically lost their lives” and all those impacted by the incident.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also responded to the events, saying in a clip shared with broadcasters that the “whole country” has been left “deeply shocked at what they’ve seen” in Southport.
“I know I speak for everybody in the whole country in saying our thoughts and condolences with the victims, their families, their friends and the wider community. And it’s almost impossible to imagine the grief that they’re going through, the trauma that they’re going through,” Starmer said, also paying tribute to emergency services for their response to what he described as an “awful incident.”