Statement on investigation into double stabbing at Brent school

Below is a transcript of a statement delivered by Detective Chief Superintendent Helen Flanagan, of Counter Terrorism Policing London, to reporters earlier this afternoon:

“Yesterday, Tuesday, 10 February at 12:39hrs, police were called to Kingsbury High School in NW9, Brent to reports that two students had been stabbed.

“As you know, emergency services attended and two victims – both boys aged 12 and 13 – were taken to hospital with serious injuries. We now know that their injuries are thankfully not thought to be life threatening, but they both remain in hospital in a stable condition.

“From our enquiries so far, we believe the suspect arrived at the school at around 12:30hrs. We know that the suspect is a former student at the school.

“Having entered the school, he proceeded up to a first floor classroom – he enters the classroom and we believe he sprays a substance towards a pupil as he enters through the door.

“Although no particular injuries were reported to us in relation to this, and we do not believe the spray to have been noxious, we are treating the boy who was sprayed as a victim in this case as well, and we are supporting both him and his family.

“The suspect has then attacked another pupil, a 13-year-old boy, in the classroom, stabbing him and the suspect has then left running down the hallway and stairs. As he is leaving, he then attacks another victim, a 12-year-old boy, stabbing him before running off and away from the school.

“Emergency services were called and the victims were both taken to hospital for urgent care. Thankfully, both the victims are now in stable condition, and we have specialist family liaison officers assigned to support the victims and their families.

“Armed police attended the school and a manhunt was immediately stood up to try and locate and detain the suspect as quickly as possible.

“While urgent enquiries were being made to try and locate the suspect, police were called by a member of the public at approximately 16:15hrs over concerns of a child who had been seen at a mosque in NW10.

“Officers attended shortly after and arrested the 13-year-old boy on suspicion of attempted murder and he remains in custody.

“I must add at this point that we do not believe the suspect has any particular connection to the mosque. At this stage, we think it may have been coincidental he ended up in that area, and those at the mosque have been incredibly supportive of our investigation.

“CTP London has taken the lead for this investigation, and clearly that is because at the outset there was concern that the attack may have had some kind of terrorism motivation.

“In terms of the investigation, currently we are keeping an open mind as to any motivation. We are exploring a number of different potential motivations for the attack, and at this time, as was the case yesterday evening, the incident has not been declared a terrorist incident.

“As part of the investigation, we have carried out searches across three premises; two addresses connected to the suspect, as well as the mosque near to where the suspect was arrested.

“We also have around 30 to 40 witnesses whom we are interviewing and getting accounts from. This is an extremely delicate process given the young ages of many of the witnesses from the school, and we are using highly trained and specialist officers to carry these out.

“We have also recovered a large amount of CCTV footage from the school, we have seized devices and we are carrying various forensic enquiries, so there are a number of strands to the investigation that are being progressed at this time.

“In terms of the suspect, we are aware there is much speculation online around the nationality and ethnicity. We can confirm that he is a British national who was born in and lives in the UK.

“We are particularly mindful that this is a child, however, and we will not be releasing or confirming any further details about him that could risk his identification.

“The suspect remains in custody, and our focus is now to gather as much evidence as possible to help progress the investigation.

“I can also confirm that, at this stage, we are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident. Based on what we know now it appears he was acting alone.”