The suspect had been arrested at a property in Selly Oak, Birmingham, at around 4am on Monday, West Midlands Police said
According to West Midlands Police, a 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder, as well as attempted murder, following a series of stabbings in Birmingham that left one person dead and several others injured.
The man suspected of these charges was detained within a property in the Selly Oak area of Birmingham at around 4am on Monday morning, the police force said in a press release.
The 27 year-old man is being questioned within police custody after the officers worked “into the early hours” to trace the suspect.
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Birmingham police commander, Chief Superintendent Steve Graham, said: “Officers worked through yesterday and into the early hours of this morning in a bid to trace the man we believe responsible for these terrible crimes.”
“We issued CCTV footage of the suspect and had a strong response from the public. I’d like to thank everyone who shared our appeal and who provided information to the investigation.”
“One line of enquiry ultimately led us to an address in the Selly Oak area this morning where a man was arrested.”
“Clearly this is a crucial development but our investigation continues.”
a police force spokesman added that the suspect was arrested on one count of murder and seven of attempted murder.
A 23-year-old man died at the scene and seven other people have suffered stab wounds during the early Sunday morning attack. All of those who were injured in the attack were taken to hospital, two of which were later discharged.
The stabbings, which happened over a period of two hours in four different locations across Birmingham city centre, were described as “truly dreadful” and “unusual” by David Jamieson, the West Midlands police and crime commissioner.
He told Sky News: “To think that people going about enjoying their evening out were attacked by what appears to be a lone knifeman is truly dreadful.”
He added:
“Our thoughts must be with the family of the deceased man and those who are still in hospital recovering from their injuries.”
Yesterday the police released some CCTV footage of a man that they wished to trace in relation to the attacks, with detectives claiming that they had a “strong response” from members of the public following their appeal.
But the force has faced criticism over the “delayed” response from their officers to the scene of the crime and why the stabbings suspect “had two hours to run around the city centre”.
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Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr, suggested that the man who died could have been saved if police officers responded to the crime quicker.
He told The Times: “We’ve got to look at the fact (the suspect) had two hours to run around the city centre, which has a huge amount of CCTV cameras in place.”
“Where was the monitoring? Both the public and police were put at further risk. There is a person dead. How was this man able to go on a two-hour spate?”
