A young girl was killed and seven others were injured when a hooded, knife-wielding maniac rampaged through a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in the UK Monday morning, authorities said.
The horror unfolded shortly before noon in Southport in northwest England outside Liverpool, when the unidentified man attacked the children before he was taken into custody by police, according to reports.
Witnesses said the attacker wore a “black hood” when he entered The Hart Space, where the yoga and dance event took place, the Daily Mail reported.
At least 25 children were taking part in the event when the attack unfolded, the Mail said.
“It is like a scene from a horror movie,” local merchant Colin Parry told the BBC. “They are coming here now and screaming. It’s like something from America, not like sunny Southport.”
Police said the maniac was taken into custody and a knife seized.
The wounded girls were rushed to three local children’s hospitals, where they were being treated after the attack.
More than a dozen emergency vehicles sped to the scene, where a “Taylor Swift Yoga and Dance Workshop” was underway for girls between 6 and 11 years old when the assailant stormed in.
According to reports he pulled up to the scene in a taxi.
“Horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from Southport,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
“My thoughts are with all those affected,” Starmer said. “I would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response. I am being kept updated as the situation develops.”
The wounded children were taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby Hospital. Their conditions were not immediately available.
One witness reported the heart-wrenching scene outside the venue following the attack.
“I saw seven to ten kids outside the nursery,” Bare Varathan, who owns a nearby shop, told the Mail. “They were injured, bleeding.
“They were in the road, running from the nursery,” Varathan said. “They had been stabbed, here, here, here, everywhere.”
A Hart Space employee described the chaos.
“When I got there, there was a guy who was absolutely distraught, in a mess,” he said. “He’d seen two children run out of The Hart Space and he though they had got hit by a car because the car was just full of blood at the side of the car.
“But it was actually that the children who had been stabbed had fallen into the car,” the staffer said.
One parent told the Mail his daughter was at the event.
“My daughter was in it and she was traumatized,” he said. “She ran away and she’s safe.”
