A man is being held by London’s Metropolitan Police following a “critical incident” in Hainault, in the north-east of the city.
As initial reports of the incident began to emerge on Tuesday morning, officials were quick to insist that people did not make guesses about what had taken place. Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting said: “I would urge people not to speculate until details are confirmed or post footage on social media.”
His second priority was to “keep local residents updated as and when I can” about public safety in the area. One former teacher joked on social media: “Well, that tweet should calm things down nicely.”
Despite Streeting’s—and, for that matter, Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s—insistence, one witness claimed they saw “a man was running around with a samurai sword” who “stabbed four people [at Hainault Tube station] after crashing his van into a house.”
The BBC later reported that the man, 36 years old, went on to attack other members of the public and two police officers.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said in a statement:
People will want to know what has happened and we will provide more information as soon as we can.
We do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the wider community. We are not looking for more suspects.
He added that “this incident does not appear to be terror-related.”
Five people were injured in the attack, including a 14-year-old boy who later died. The man carrying the sword remains in hospital and is reportedly too unwell to be interviewed by the police, who stated they can find no official record of any previous dealings with the suspect. Officers have been praised for “running towards danger to protect others;”–one of whom has a “seriously damaged” arm and another a badly damaged hand, disclosed Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley.
