An alleged knifeman was shot multiple times by police outside a synagogue in Manchester, England, on Thursday morning as officers responded to an automobile and stabbing attack.
Several people were hit by a car and stabbed by an alleged knifeman at Heaton Park synagogue, on Middleton Road. City mayor Andy Burnham told local media that he had been told by police that a car had been driven by a man at members of the public and that he had dismounted and attempted to stab people.
Sadly we now know that two people targeted in the attack have been confirmed as dead. The total number of victims has risen from four to five, with three others in “serious condition” in hospital, from car ramming injuries or stab wounds.
We don’t have any meaningful updates on the suspect as, given he was wearing a suspicious item around his waist that police fear could be a bomb, he can’t be approached by officers or paramedics. He’s being dealt with by an Army bomb-disposal robot instead. Social media images from the scene, however, show a well-built man dressed all in black with a large bushy beard, holding a knife.
The BBC states the man was seen by witnesses passing on the road using his knife to try and stab his way through a window at the Synagogue to get inside. The witness told the broadcaster: “Within seconds, the police arrived, they gave him a couple of warnings, he didn’t listen so they opened fire… [he] started getting back up and they [the police] shot him again”.