A stabbing attack that left three people dead and three others seriously injured in a park in Reading, U.K., is being treated as a “terror incident”, Thames Valley Police said Sunday.
The incident took place at Forbury Gardens at around 7 p.m. on Saturday. Police have arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of murder who remains in police custody. Reading is around 65 kilometers west of London.
“I’m appalled and sickened that people should lose their lives in this way and our thoughts are very much with the family and the friends of the victims today,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday.
“If there are lessons we need to learn about how we handle such cases, how we handle the events leading up to such cases, then we will learn those lessons and we will not hesitate to take action where necessary,” he added.
U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel called the attack “senseless.”
“My heart, prayers and thoughts are with all those affected and to the people of Reading who will be deeply shocked and concerned by this terrible incident,” Patel tweeted on Saturday evening..
Thames Valley Police said they are not looking for any other suspects, and that there is nothing to suggest there is further danger to the public. Police also ruled out reports that the attack was related to a Black Lives Matter protest in Reading on Saturday afternoon.
“Incidents of this nature are very rare, though I know that will be of little comfort to those involved and understand the concern that this incident will have caused amongst our local community,” Chief Constable John Campbell of Thames Valley Police said.
Laurence Wort, an eyewitness who said he was 10 meters away when the attack started, told the BBC the lone attacker walked through a group of people and “suddenly shouted some unintelligible words and went round a large group trying to stab them.”
“He stabbed three of them and then turned and started running towards me, when we turned and started running,” Wort said.
Police are asking any eyewitnesses with video footage of the incident to share it with them and not circulate it on social media.