Counter-terrorism police questioning a 13-year-old suspected of stabbing two boys at a London school stated Wednesday the assault had not been designated as terrorism as officers probe “completely different potential motivations”.
Disclosing varied new particulars concerning the Tuesday lunchtime double stabbing on the school in Brent, northwest London, police up to date that the 2 victims aged 12 and 13 have been in a steady situation in hospital.
Counter Terrorism Detective Chief Superintendent Helen Flanagan additionally stated the suspect was a UK-born former pupil of the school and was apprehended at a northwest London mosque a number of hours later following a tip from the general public.
He’s being held on suspicion of tried homicide, as police compile statements from dozens of witnesses, lots of them kids.
“We’re exploring quite a lot of completely different potential motivations for the assault, and at the moment… the incident has not been declared a terrorist incident,” Flanagan instructed reporters at a briefing.
The senior officer detailed how the suspect arrived at Kingsbury Excessive School at round 12:30 pm Tuesday and entered a primary flooring classroom the place he sprayed a substance not believed to be noxious in direction of a pupil.
The perpetrator then stabbed a 13-year-old pupil contained in the classroom, earlier than working downstairs and knifing one other sufferer, the 12-year-old, as he fled the premises.
Flanagan stated officers have been nonetheless “attempting to verify” studies the suspect might have shouted “Allahu Akbar” which means “God is the best” through the assault however famous “there have been studies of that”.
“We will verify the suspect is a British Nationwide, who was born in the UK and lives in the UK,” she added.
Confirming the 13-year-old arrested was a former pupil, she famous he “was not attending the school at the moment”.
Police have recovered the suspected weapon used on the time of his apprehension “in the vacinity of the mosque”.
“We don’t imagine the suspect had any specific connection to that mosque, and at this stage, we expect that it could have been coincidental that he ended up in that space,” Flanagan famous.
The UK, and London in specific, has lengthy grappled with teenage violence and using knives, whereas violence inside colleges has been rising nationwide, in line with unions representing lecturers.
The incident has additionally evoked painful reminiscences of the 2024 Southport assault, when teenager Axel Rudakubana murdered three younger ladies and wounded 10 others in a stabbing spree.
It sparked Britain’s worst anti-migrant riots in many years.
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