Birmingham Police have arrested a 27-year-old man on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
In the early hours of Sunday morning (6 September), several pedestrians were stabbed by an assailant in the heart of Birmingham city centre, leaving one dead and seven others injured.
At roughly 4am on Monday, a suspect was detained at a property in the Selly Oak area of the city. He is currently being questioned in police custody.
Birmingham police commander, Chief Superintendent Steve Graham, said in a statement: “Officers worked through yesterday and into the early hours of this morning in a bid to trace the man we believe responsible for these terrible crimes.
“We issued CCTV footage of the suspect and had a strong response from the public. I’d like to thank everyone who shared our appeal and who provided information to the investigation.
“One line of enquiry ultimately led us to an address in the Selly Oak area this morning where a man was arrested. Clearly this is a crucial development but our investigation continues.”
If the suspect is found guilty, he will be charged on suspicion of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. A 23-year-old man succumbed to his injuries, while seven others were harmed by the attacker’s knife.
Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr, criticised the police for their slow reaction, saying the suspect was able to “go on a two-hour spate”.
“We’ve got to look at the fact (the suspect) had two hours to run around the city centre, which has a huge amount of CCTV cameras in place,” he told The Times.
“Where was the monitoring? Both the public and police were put at further risk.
“There is a person dead. How was this man able to go on a two-hour spate?”
If you have any information about the attack, contact West Midland Police’s urgent hotline on 0800 056 0944.
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