One of the suspects arrested following last night’s (1 November) horrifying knife attack on a train reportedly shouted chilling words before his arrest.
British Train Police (BTP) confirmed this morning that two men, one a black British national, 32, and one a British national born of Caribbean descent, who were both born in the UK, were in separate police stations for questioning.
A major incident was declared as they were arrested when the train from Doncaster, bound for London’s King's Cross, was stopped at Huntingdon station.
It’s believed that shortly after it departed Peterborough, a rampage unfolded as passengers were stabbed and nine were left fighting for their lives.
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Saying it ‘felt like forever’ one witness described it as lasting about ’10 to 15 minutes’ with one suspect believed to have been tasered by police before being arrested.
It has since been confirmed that the incident is not being treated as terrorism as two people remain in a life-threatening condition.
Speaking outside Huntington railway station today, Superintendent John Loveless from the BTP said: “We declared a major incident yesterday and counter terrorism policing were initially supporting our investigation. However, at this stage, there is nothing to suggest this is a terrorist incident.
"At this stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.”
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As witnesses recall seeing a man holding a large knife while passengers hid in toilets and ran through the carriages to get away, it is unclear when the two suspects boarded the train. The police have also not yet confirmed where the pair are from.
Viorel Turturica ended up filming the moment he saw police approaching a believed suspect as he had arrived at Huntingdon station at 7:41pm to pick someone up.
“As soon as I see the passenger a few minutes later, I then see everybody running out of the station,” the taxi driver told the Daily Mail.
He then claims that ’10 seconds later’ a man holding ‘a huge kitchen knife’ ran past his car at 7:47pm.
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“The police arrive seconds later and I could hear him shouting ‘kill me, kill me, kill me’,” he added. “They then Taser him and as soon as he is down they say to him, ‘Drop your weapon,’ – that’s when I started recording.”
Turturica said he didn’t ‘understand the gravity’ until after he left the area and saw the police presence.
Police are still working on uncovering the motive for the attacks and have said that ‘at this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident’.
Eleven people had been treated in hospital following the attack and four have now been discharged.
Jess Battison