Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the multiple stabbings in Glasgow on Friday that ended with the suspect being shot dead by police weren’t being treated as terrorism.
The male suspect was shot dead by police at a Glasgow hotel that appeared to be largely housing asylum-seekers and refugees. Six other men, including a 42-year-old police officer, have been hospitalized and are being treated for injuries. The five other men were aged between 17 and 53.
“The police have just confirmed that at this stage they are not treating this as a terrorist incident,” she said. “But of course, there are still details yet to be determined.”
Sturgeon said she had spoken with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who expressed his concern and sympathies.
“It’s been a dreadful afternoon for the city of Glasgow,” Sturgeon said. “Clearly there is already much speculation around this incident, which remains under investigation.”
Steve Johnson, assistant chief constable at Police Scotland, said officers were on the scene within two minutes of reports of an incident at 12:50 p.m., and that armed police arrived shortly afterwards.
“The incident was quickly contained,” he said.
The officer stabbed during the incident at the Park Inn Hotel on West George Street was in “a critical but stable condition,” Johnson said.
Johnson said police weren’t searching for anyone else.
The Scottish Police Federation, which represents the large majority of Scottish police officers, said it has notified the family of the injured officer.
Craig Milroy, who witnessed the aftermath from a nearby office building, said he saw four people taken away in ambulances.
“I saw a man lying on the ground, of African descent, with no shoes on,” Milroy said. “He was on the ground with someone holding his side. I don’t know if it was a bullet wound, a stab wound, or what it was.”
Milroy said the man was one of the four taken away by paramedics and believed him to be a victim.
“We were still standing outside. After that the police all came down, the riot police and triage team told us to go back in and lock the door,” he said.
A spokeswoman for campaign group Positive Action In Housing said the 91-room hotel was housing asylum seekers for the Mears Group, a housing and social care provider. which moved them there during the coronavirus lockdown.
Boris Johnson said he was “deeply saddened by the terrible incident in Glasgow” and that his thoughts are with “all the victims and their families.”
Sturgeon urged people to avoid speculation “to not share potentially harmful or upsetting material on social media and to follow police advice while investigations are underway.”