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This is an archive article published on July 30, 2024
UK stabbing: 9-year-old girl becomes third child to die from attack; cops question arrested teen
The victims, aged six, seven, and nine, were attending a Taylor Swift-themed event when a 17-year-old male stormed the premises and began stabbing people indiscriminately.
Police secure the area, where a man has been detained and a knife has been seized after a number of people were injured in a reported stabbing, in Southport, Merseyside, England, Monday July 29, 2024. (James Speakman/PA via AP)
A devastating knife attack at a children’s dance workshop in Southport, England, has claimed the lives of three young girls. The attack, which took place on Monday (July 29), also left five children and two adults in critical condition.
The victims, Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9 were attending a Taylor Swift-themed event when a 17-year-old male stormed the premises and began stabbing people indiscriminately.
Police have arrested the suspect on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, with detectives questioning him to try and establish the motive behind the attack at the workshop at Hart Street.
The police force on Tuesday reiterated the incident is “not currently being treated as terror-related and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with it”.
In its update on the investigation, Merseyside Police said the third child died of injuries sustained in the knife attack in the early hours of this morning, while the two other children were killed on the spot.
The attack has sent shockwaves through the community and the nation, with tributes pouring in for the victims.
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The royal family, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, expressed their shock and sadness at the “utterly horrific” incident.
“We send our most heartfelt condolences, prayers and deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have so tragically lost their lives and to all those affected by this truly appalling attack,” the King’s message read.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper looks at tributes near the scene in Hart Street where two children died and nine were injured in a knife attack during a Taylor Swift event at a dance school on Monday, in Southport, England (James Speakman/PA via AP)
Prince William and Kate Middleton, on a personal note, said that as parents they “could not begin to imagine” what the families of the children were going through.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer commented that the whole country had been “deeply shocked” by the attack. “I know I speak for everybody in the whole country in saying our thoughts and condolences are with the victims, their families, their friends and the wider community. It’s almost impossible to imagine the grief that they’re going through and the trauma that they are going through,” he stated.
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Opposition Leader Rishi Sunak also expressed his shock over the “horrendous attack” and thanked the emergency services for their response.
Singer Taylor Swift said the knife attack at a dance workshop themed around her music, which left three children dead and nine more injured, had left her “completely in shock.” Posting on Instagram, she said she was “at a complete loss” for how to convey her sympathies. “The horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there,” she added, “had left me at a ‘complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.'”
The screenshot shows Taylor Swifts’ Instagram response to the stabbing in Southport, Tuesday (AP Photo)
The dance class is believed to have been fully booked with 25 children in attendance.
A police cordon remains in place around the scene at Hart Street in Southport, a seaside town north of Liverpool, also referred to as Merseyside.
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