UK- Girl, 11, and woman, 34, stabbed in London's Leicester Square, August 2024, "Suspect arrest*

[Skigh]

Leicester Square stabbings latest: Girl and woman taken to hospital

MAILONLINE LIVE BLOG: Follow live coverage as an 11-year-old girl was stabbed alongside a woman, 34, in Leicester Square in central London.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Leicester Square traders have told how the alleged attacker looked 'agitated' before the double stabbing was carried out.
A shop manager told the Mirror he saw the suspected perpetrator 90 minutes before an 11-year-old girl and a woman were attacked with a knife near the LEGO shop.
He told the newspaper:

I saw the man standing there walking around and talking to himself. He looked homeless to me. We see these lots everyday so we can recognise them but I hadn't seen him before.

Another man who works opposite the scene, and who did not want to be identified, said he saw the suspect earlier in the day.
He said: 'He was standing, doing nothing, eating and talking to himself as I saw.'
He filmed a man being arrested outside the TWG Tea shop and said he recognised him from the morning.
He added that the woman who was injured was standing before the ambulance arrived, but he did not see the girl.

 

[Inthedetails]

Leicester Square stabbings latest: Girl and woman taken to hospital

MAILONLINE LIVE BLOG: Follow live coverage as an 11-year-old girl was stabbed alongside a woman, 34, in Leicester Square in central London.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Leicester Square traders have told how the alleged attacker looked 'agitated' before the double stabbing was carried out.
A shop manager told the Mirror he saw the suspected perpetrator 90 minutes before an 11-year-old girl and a woman were attacked with a knife near the LEGO shop.
He told the newspaper:

Another man who works opposite the scene, and who did not want to be identified, said he saw the suspect earlier in the day.
He said: 'He was standing, doing nothing, eating and talking to himself as I saw.'
He filmed a man being arrested outside the TWG Tea shop and said he recognised him from the morning.
He added that the woman who was injured was standing before the ambulance arrived, but he did not see the girl.

This rings true to me. I live in NYC and we also have people walking around who are clearly disturbed. (But it's not as if the city is suddenly dangerous, like some news outlets lead people to think!)

We need to come up with mental-health solutions. I do not have the answers and don't pretend to. But people who need help walking around the streets in agitation is not good for anyone. Like this witness described, you can see someone who is agitated and seems disturbed, but it's not illegal to be like that - so what are we supposed to do?

jmo

 

[dotr]

Man stabs a girl and her mother in a London tourism hot spot before being arrested, police say

Authorities say a man stabbed an 11-year-old girl and her mother in London’s bustling theater district before being arrested, but that there is no indication that the attack was terrorism-related.

apnews.com

''The suspect is 32, and police said that at this stage, they don’t believe he knew the victims.

“An urgent investigation is now ongoing and detectives are working to establish the details around exactly what happened,″ Jessah said.''

 

[Dotta]

This case reminds me of Lithuanian girl living in the UK
who was stabbed by another Lithuanian suffering from schizophrenia.

He was walking down the street,
and suddenly attacked the girl who was playing on the pavement outside a Travel Agency where her Mum worked.
The poor girl died.

I don't remember the name of the child.
But there was a thread here, on WS.

Terrible tragedies.
This one and that one

 

[dotr]

rbbm​

Leicester Square stabbing: Security guard disarms man after girl and woman stabbed

Police cordon in place outside the LEGO store and opposite the M&M store in the tourist hotspot

www.independent.co.uk

''Suspect believed to have been seen ‘agitated’ 90 minutes before attack​

'The man was of white ethnicity in his mid-30s and was wearing a black top and trousers, but no hat, and appeared to potentially be homeless, said the employee, who wished to remain anonymous.
The employee said he first noticed the man because of his agitated state at around 10am near the eventual scene of the attack, which took place at 11:36am.
The man was alone and had remained in the area for at least an hour prior to the attack, he told The Independent’s Andy Gregory.''

''Street performer says young victim was ‘most targeted'​

A witness said the suspect in the attack in Leicester Square was a young, white, skinny male wearing a black T-shirt and jeans.
The witness, who gave his name as Desmond, 45, said the knifeman focused the attack on the girl, putting her in a headlock and stabbing her.
Desmond, 45, who performs as Darth Vader on the square “every day”, told reporters: “When I looked to my side I saw a young man… was stabbing her several (times) with a knife.
“Before I could jump down to go (over there), two guys were just passing, and they grab him, they put him on the ground, and immediately the police came. I think the woman was also stabbed once, but the child was the most targeted, he was stabbing the child several times.''

 

[sunflowermomma]

Might be a bit of a stretch but my thoughts are the attacker may have been a tourist/visitor to London. This Daily Mail article shows a newish looking baseball cap on the floor at the scene from the brand 'Robin Ruth' which appears to be brand mainly sold in souvenir shops in the UK. It would be quite rare for a Londoner to wear such a cap, imo. Of course it might not belong to the attacker.

View attachment 524072

or a disguise that was purchased quickly nearby? JMO

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1823063313158148145

 

[Tortoise]

Caption: An eyewitness took a photo of a man being arrested at the scene shortly after the attack

"A shop security guard has described how he helped save an 11-year-old girl as she was being attacked by a knifeman in London's Leicester Square.

In a statement, the Met Police said a 32-year-old man had been arrested and taken into custody after the girl and her 34-year-old mother were stabbed.

[...]

"Det Ch Supt Christina Jessah from the Met paid tribute to the staff and members of the public "who bravely intervened in this incident", saying: "They put themselves at risk and showed the best of London in doing so."

She added investigators were working to establish the suspect's motive for the attack, and urged anyone who witnessed what happened or had any information to contact police."

Leicester Square: Girl, 11 and mum, 34, stabbed in London

BBM

 

[SpursGyal]

This case reminds me of Lithuanian girl living in the UK
who was stabbed by another Lithuanian suffering from schizophrenia.

He was walking down the street,
and suddenly attacked the girl who was playing on the pavement outside a Travel Agency where her Mum worked.
The poor girl died.

I don't remember the name of the child.
But there was a thread here, on WS.

Terrible tragedies.
This one and that one

Lilia Valutyte
This wasn't too far from me, utterly heartbreaking.

 

[Dotta]

Lilia Valutyte
This wasn't too far from me, utterly heartbreaking.

Thank you!
Yes.
Lilia Valutyte.
RIP

 

[Lucy6226]

Wow brave people who intervened, I'm glad they are getting recognised by the media.

It's so difficult to know if someone ,'acting strange or agitated' is a risk to themselves or others. It seems like the perp had mental health issues, it won't have necessarily been a police issue but maybe an ambulance? The square is so busy especially in summer I'm surprised anyone noticed him be the attack tbh.

Agreeing with others the UK is increasingly feeling like an unsafe place to live

 

[LadyL]

Now leading story in The Mail.

I would be very surprised if this was committed by a right wing .

Schoolgirl, 11, and woman, 34, stabbed in London's Leicester Square

A little girl, 11, and a woman, 34, have been rushed to hospital after a double stabbing in London's busy Leicester Square.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A security guard said he 'jumped on' and took a knife from the man who stabbed the child.

The guard, who gave his name as Abdullah, 29, said he had worked in security at the TWG Tea shop for the past 'seven to eight months'.
He said: 'I heard a scream, at that moment I saw there was one person, roughly (in their) mid-30s or early 30s, and he was like stabbing a kid.

'I jumped on him, held the hand in which he was (carrying) a knife, and just put him down on the floor and just held him and took the knife away from him.

'Then a couple of more people joined as well, and we just held him until the police came, it took maybe three to four minutes for the police to arrive and then they just took him into custody.'

He and his colleagues gave first aid to the child before the police joined in, he said.

'I just saw a kid getting stabbed and I just tried to save her. It's my duty to just save them.'

hero!

 

[LadyL]

Wow brave people who intervened, I'm glad they are getting recognised by the media.

It's so difficult to know if someone ,'acting strange or agitated' is a risk to themselves or others. It seems like the perp had mental health issues, it won't have necessarily been a police issue but maybe an ambulance? The square is so busy especially in summer I'm surprised anyone noticed him be the attack tbh.

Agreeing with others the UK is increasingly feeling like an unsafe place to live

same feeling here in Canada

 

[sriraaacha]

As with most of these attacks, it seems like one leads to another very similar one soon after. Maybe it's coincidental or maybe it's not. Looks like he was going after a child specifically though. It's crazy and scary to think that in the middle of the day in such a busy touristy area that you're still not entirely safe. They just don't care so there must be some sort of mental health issues regardless of what they are. I don't know what the solution/answer is either but something needs to be done. Abdullah is amazing. Also impressive that the police were there so quickly too! Hopefully they both recover quickly.

 

[Sarahlou]

A man has been charged with attempted murder after an 11-year-old girl was stabbed in Leicester Square.

Ioan Pinatru, 32, of no fixed address, has also been charged with possession of a bladed article.

It was initially thought the girl's mother had also been hurt, but it was later confirmed that blood from her daughter's wounds had been mistaken for injuries of her own.

Leicester Square stabbing: Man charged with attempted murder - BBC News

An 11-year-old girl, who was with her mother, was attacked in the tourist hotspot on Monday.

www.bbc.co.uk

So the mother wasn't stabbed.

 

[martinwatts5]

A man has been charged with attempted murder after an 11-year-old girl was stabbed in Leicester Square.

Ioan Pinatru, 32, of no fixed address, has also been charged with possession of a bladed article.

It was initially thought the girl's mother had also been hurt, but it was later confirmed that blood from her daughter's wounds had been mistaken for injuries of her own.

Leicester Square stabbing: Man charged with attempted murder - BBC News

An 11-year-old girl, who was with her mother, was attacked in the tourist hotspot on Monday.

www.bbc.co.uk

So the mother wasn't stabbed.

Yes it was just the young girl stabbed so it does feel like a copy-cat act in my opinion.