Police mentioned officers had been known as to the incident shortly earlier than 1100 GMT on Monday, simply minutes earlier than the dance occasion was scheduled to finish.
Armed officers detained the suspect close by and seized a knife.
The suspect was in custody at a police station Tuesday and police mentioned enquiries had been ongoing “to determine the motive for this tragic incident”.
Focused assaults on kids are extraordinarily uncommon within the UK.
“HORROR MOVIE”
Monday’s incident evoked recollections of a faculty bloodbath within the Scottish city of Dunblane in 1996, which claimed the lives of 16 younger pupils and their trainer in Britain’s worst mass capturing.
The North West Ambulance Service mentioned it handled 11 casualties with stab accidents, who had been then taken by ambulance and helicopter to Alder Hey Youngsters’s Hospital and different hospitals within the space.
Native enterprise proprietor Colin Parry, one of many individuals who known as police, advised the Press Affiliation (PA) information company that he believed a number of “younger ladies” had been stabbed.
A member of his workers additionally noticed “about 10 children go operating previous him, all bleeding, and one in all them collapsed on the ground outdoors the neighbour subsequent door,” he recounted.
Naked Varathan, who owns an area store, advised PA he noticed “seven to 10 children” who had been “injured, bleeding”.
Different witnesses advised UK media they heard screams, evaluating the assault to a scene from a horror movie.
King Charles III provided his “most heartfelt condolences, prayers and deepest sympathies” and known as the incident “totally horrific”.
Prince William and his spouse Katherine posted on X that “as dad and mom, we can’t start to think about what the households, buddies and family members of these killed and injured in Southport right this moment are going via”, calling it a “heinous assault”.
