It could have been the script of a B-movie horror film. On the weekend following Halloween, the train from Doncaster to London at six-thirty was the scene of a mass stabbing for 14 minutes, apparently carried out by a person who may have had the help of an accomplice.
The train passengers didn't see anything strange when a man boarded the train at the Peterborough stop with what has been described as a kitchen knife. After all, it was the day after Halloween. They also didn't alarm with the initial stabbings. They thought it was a joke - another one - from that night. Only when the blood started to flow, they realized that it was real. The result was 11 people who needed hospital attention for stab wounds, one of them in serious condition. The police arrested two men born in the UK, aged 32 and 35, the first has been charged with attempted murder and the second has been released. Police Superintendent John Loveless stated at a press conference that "at this stage of the investigation, there is nothing to indicate that this is a terrorist incident," although he clarified that "it would not be appropriate to speculate about the causes" of the act.
For now, nothing more is known about the attacker. Several Islamic fundamentalists have carried out terrorist attacks with bladed weapons, the latest being just a month ago when a British citizen named Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, killed two people in a synagogue in Manchester before being shot dead by the police. Three more people - two men of similar age to Al-Shamie and a woman - have been arrested by the police.
The attempted massacre on the Doncaster to London train also highlights the prevalence of knife violence in the UK, especially in London. Although the figures show a decline in knife-related incidents - and violence in general - in the 12 months leading up to September, there were over 15,000 knife crimes in that city, averaging almost 40 per day, mainly in robberies, street violence, and clashes between rival gangs.
Knife violence is particularly prevalent among young black and mixed-race individuals, and a significant number of incidents occur on the street, in parks, or on public transport, heightening public concern, as well as the fact that, in some cases, criminals use swords or machetes.
Municipal authorities insist that the homicide rate in London is lower than that of, for example, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, or Brussels. With 70 murders from January 1 to September 30, London is on track to have its lowest number of homicides since statistics began to be compiled 22 years ago. However, these figures do not reassure many Britons. The constant reference by the ultranationalist and anti-European Reform-UK party to crime among immigrants is one of the factors contributing to this state of opinion.
Testimonies from witnesses and victims of the train attack will likely contribute to increasing the perception that bladed weapons are a very real threat in the UK, regardless of the attackers' motivations. The authorities acted swiftly, as in the Manchester attack, although the The Times newspaper quoted anonymous sources from UK railways who believe that the train driver should have acted more quickly in alerting after receiving the alarm about what was happening in the carriages.
In any case, the train seems to have stopped at the first station, the town of Huntingdon, where it was not scheduled to stop. When it arrived, the Police were already waiting. The train is one of the fastest in the UK, with speeds reaching 201 kilometers per hour, and is operated by the LNER company, state-owned, after the failure of the private operator Virgin Trains East Coast to manage it.
But by then, the convoy was experiencing a bloodbath. Passengers have described scenes of panic, blood, and confusion to the British media. A passenger who identified himself as Gavin told reporters that he heard someone shout: "They have a knife, they stabbed me!", and added that there were people "covered in blood".
Another said that the carriage had turned into "a war zone in 90 seconds", with people hiding under seats and even in the bathrooms. A man who stood between the killer and a girl suffered serious neck injuries. At least one of the two men who were arrested resisted the Police in Huntingdon, as revealed in a video showing an individual dressed in black struggling with the officers while shouting "kill me, kill me!".