A knife-wielding man who killed one man and injured seven other persons in a two-hour stabbing massacre across the UK city of Birmingham is being hunted by police.
The first stabbing incident occurred in Constitution Hill at 00:30 BST then the killer moved south, apparently attacking pedestrians at random, officers said.
According to Midlands Police, the stabbings did not appear terrorism related, gang related or connected to disorder.
Murder inquiry detectives said they were hunting a single suspect responsible for the stabbing.
The force urged anyone with CCTV or mobile footage to contact them.
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One man died, another man and a woman suffered critical injuries and five other people were left with non-life-threatening injuries.
Ch Supt Steve Graham said the attacker went on to stab people in Livery Street, Irving Street and finally in Hurst Street, where the city’s Gay Village meets the Chinese Quarter, at about 02:20 BST.
Police said there was no evidence the stabbings were a hate crime.
A woman who was out celebrating her 29th birthday described how she helped a woman who was “on the street bleeding heavily” after a man shouted someone had been stabbed.
Nikita Denton, of Edgbaston, said: “My best friend Jay held her head and talked her through everything the whole time and wouldn’t leave her side.
“She looked very dazed and confused, she couldn’t talk. But she was talking to my friend with blinks.”
When the paramedics arrived they asked them for help.
“I got water and used the torch on my phone to help them see the wounds as they didn’t have a torch at that time,” she said.
“There were about four wounds.”
She added: “I’d hate to think if we weren’t there that night as she would have been alone.”
Ch Supt Graham said officers – some armed – remained across the city centre to reassure people.
He added they had received a number of descriptions of the suspect but would not be releasing any details for the time being.
He said: “The events during the early hours of this morning are tragic, shocking and understandably frightening.
“It does appear to be a random attack because we haven’t found any links between the victims, either in their nature or in where they were socialising.
“Please be assured that we are doing absolutely everything we can to find whoever was responsible and try to understand what exactly happened.”
Nathan Hudson, from West Midlands Ambulance Service, said 14 ambulances attended and he was among 11 paramedic officers who were also sent to help.
A team of St John Ambulance volunteers based at the Arcadian nightspot also treated casualties.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked emergency services for “working hard at the scene”.
He tweeted: “All my thoughts are with those affected by the terrible incident in Birmingham last night.”
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