Police have arrested a 27-year-old man after a man was stabbed to death and seven others were injured during a series of apparently random knife attacks in the British city of Birmingham.
The man was arrested at 4am in Selly Oak, in the southwest of the city, more than a day after the attacks started in the city centre. Senior officers faced criticism for apparent delays in releasing pictures of the attacker in an area well-covered by security cameras.
Witnesses said the attacker wandered around the city attacking the victims after 12.30am on Sunday. The man appeared calm and did not flee after each of the attacks which appeared to target young people.
A 23-year-old man was killed along the three-kilometre route taken by the suspect, while a man and woman, aged 19 and 32, remained critically ill in hospital after being stabbed. Five other people, aged between 23 and 33, were less seriously hurt.
Police said there was no suggestion that terrorism was the motive for the attacks.
He was being held on suspicion of murder and seven counts of attempted murder.
Birmingham Police Commander Steve Graham said: “Officers worked through yesterday and into the early hours of this morning in a bid to trace the man we believe responsible for these terrible crimes.
“One line of enquiry ultimately led us to an address in the Selly Oak area this morning where a man was arrested. Clearly this is a crucial development but our investigation continues.”
But police faced criticism for the time taken to release details of the man they were searching for.
Khalid Mahmood, an opposition MP in the city, said the man had two hours to run around the city despite the “huge amount” of security cameras in place.
“Where was the monitoring? Both the public and police were put at further risk. There is a person dead. How was this man able to go on a two-hour spate?” he told The Times.
