The hero who tackled the Leicester Square knifeman has been identified as a local tea shop security guard.
Leicester Square TWG tea worker Abdullah, who said he “heard a scream” and went outside and saw a “guy had a knife”, was on scene as an 11-year-old girl and a woman, 34, were both stabbed.
A man has been arrested with both victims being rushed to hospital after the incident earlier today. Westminster Police issued a statement saying: “Officers are at the scene of a stabbing in Leicester Square. A man has been arrested & is in custody. We don’t believe there are any outstanding suspects.”
(Image: bbc.co.uk)
In an updated statement posted later on, Police revealed the injuries to the two victims. In a post on X: “The 11-year-old girl will require hospital treatment but her injuries are not life threatening. The second victim suffered more minor injuries. At this stage, there is no suggestion that the incident is terror-related.”
And now Abdullah has spoken out. He told the BBC: “The moment I saw it I just jumped on that guy and grabbed his hand… and put him down on the floor and kicked the knife away from him.”
He said help came in the form of a couple of other men to hold the man down for “four to five” minutes.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
And later, speaking to the PA news agency, 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.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“It’s horrible to be honest; I’ve never seen anything like that before. To do this to a kid, it’s horrible.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah, in charge of policing for Westminster, said: “This is a horrific incident and our thoughts are with the victims and their family. We will continue to provide support to them over the coming days and weeks.
“I would like to pay tribute to the members of the public, including staff from local businesses, who bravely intervened in this incident. They put themselves at risk and showed the best of London in doing so. An urgent investigation is now ongoing and detectives are working to establish the details around exactly what happened.
Witnesses, or anyone with footage or photos of the incident, are asked to call 101 or to contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111, giving the reference 2745/12AUG.
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