'It was a bloodbath': Police hunt knifeman who stabbed four 'lone and vulnerable' people from behind in random attacks during north London rampage as public are warned to be 'vigilant'
- The first stabbing just after 7pm yesterday evening in Edmonton left a 45-year-old woman fighting for her life
Hours later, a man was stabbed in Park Avenue and was rushed to hospital with non-life threatening injuries
A 23-year-old man was then stabbed at Silver Street, Edmonton, at around 3.55am on Sunday morning
A man was then knifed in the back in another 'bloodbath attack' this morning and was taken to hospital
Police have warned the public to be on their guard in the wake of the four stabbings in Edmonton, north London, which left a 45-year-old woman fighting for her life.
The knifeman described as a tall, skinny, black man, wearing a hood and dark clothing, approached all of the people from behind in what police said were random attacks not linked to terrorism.
Detectives have made two arrests but promised 'enhanced and dedicated police activity around the clock' to keep the area safe.
Natasha Cameron, 45, lives on Aberdeen Road and was walking home from work at a nearby casino after 10pm when she was informed about the stabbing near her house.
She said: 'I was like 'oh my God this is the road I live on.' I'm scared now because I always walk here from work home. Now I'm definitely taking the bus'.
Another local resident, Nichola Dennigan, said: 'It is scary at the moment all these stabbings in Edmonton where I live.'
The first stabbing left a 45-year-old woman in 'critical condition' after she was knifed in the back on Aberdeen Road in Britain's capital, just after 7pm yesterday evening.
Just hours later, a man was stabbed shortly after midnight in Park Avenue and was rushed to hospital with non-life threatening wounds.
A 23-year-old man was then stabbed at Silver Street, Edmonton, before being found at around 3.55am at Seven Sisters tube station and remains in a stable condition.
Following this, an unidentified man was knifed in the back in another 'bloodbath attack' this morning just a quarter of a mile from where the woman was stabbed.
He was taken to hospital with potentially life-changing injuries following the attack on Brettenham Road at around 9:43am.
Later on Sunday morning a man was arrested on Fore Street while a second suspect, a man in his 40s, was taken into custody at a home in Edmonton this evening. Both are in custody on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
It comes after a 22-year-old man was shot this morning in Walthamstow, London, at around 2.50am on Penrhyn Avenue.
He was rushed to an east London hospital but his condition is not thought to be life threatening and no arrests have been made.
Police are treating the four stabbings as potentially linked but say the victims appear to have been selected at random due to them being 'alone and vulnerable'.
Detectives are appealing for information and urging the public to stay vigilant following the series of stabbings in the Edmonton area.
A 50-year-old hospital worker and PhD graduate who dialled 999 following the Brettenham Road attack said he was in his kitchen at 9.30am when he heard somebody shouting 'oh my God'.
The resident said: 'The sound was moving around the front of the estate from the back and I called 999. When I came out, his attacker was gone and I heard the man speaking on the phone saying 'why didn't you come yet?'
'I saw when police cut his clothes off his back. There was blood all around him, it was like a bloodbath.
'It was horrifying. My son was inside, he is only 15 and he has been left traumatised. He said in that moment 'dad please can we leave this place'.
'I came out onto the main road and he was on the floor face down and then within a minute, the police arrived. They were excellent. The ambulance came four or five minutes later.'
A local cafe owner, 50, who checked his CCTV to see one of the victims limping down Park Avenue said: 'It has all gone crazy. Last night there was a guy walking down here with a limp followed by a couple of others.'
A Turkish woman, who lives on the Edmonton estate where the last of the four victims was stabbed, was faced with a crime scene when she stepped out onto her balcony this morning.
She said: 'My balcony looks down onto the spot where the man was lying on the ground. I heard screaming outside and stood on the balcony - there were people running around.
'There were so many sirens and police everywhere. Then I saw a body on the floor surrounded by police.'
Dozens of officers, riot vans and a police helicopter rushed to the scene in Edmonton, north London, at 9.35am this morning.
One resident said the estate is known for having gangs of between 15 and 20 men 'hanging around in the car park day and night.'
A 36-year-old shop worker, was working when the attack took place, said: 'I was serving a customer and I heard screaming. Then when I went out and stood in the shop doorway there were a lot of people crowding around the man on the floor.
'I heard he ran through the flats. Then there was another attack in the street next door but I didn't see the man with the knife.'
Student nurse Nawel Yusef, said it was 'heartbreaking' to find the high street covered in police tape when she arrived to do her shopping this morning.
The 26-year-old, from Bow in east London, said her brother Zakaria Sharif Ali was stabbed to death in November in nearby Shoreditch.
She said: 'It was heartbreaking to see the police cordons and the blood on the street this morning.
'It is ridiculous and what happened here is all linked. I heard the attack on Park Avenue last night was the same guy who stabbed the man this morning.
'Back in the day, people fought with fists not knives. These people are taking lives and using knives like it doesn't matter.
'You carry a knife and either you are going to use it or somebody is going to use it on you so there is no winner.'
Cengiz Topal was woken by the cries coming from outside his Edmonton flat in north London and rushed outside.
He said: 'I was asleep and I just heard somebody shouting 'help, help' and I saw him on the floor. He must've walked through the middle of the estate to the main road where he collapsed.
'I went outside and I could tell he had been stabbed. I was trying to help him but there were other people there and the police arrived almost immediately. He was a young man, a poor young man. It's so terrible.
'I just stood there watching the police cut off his clothes while he was lying there still with his eyes closed. I don't even know if he is alive.
'I always see big groups of kids smoking drugs and causing problems here - they turn up in groups of 30 or 40 several times per month. I'm an old man but I saw to them 'careful kids' or 'be good young man.'
'Sometimes I come out to find my tyres have been slashed and they are flat. There are problems every weekend, Bulgarians, black men and teenage boys and girls.'
A neighbouring resident said he heard shouts and screams coming from the estate an hour-and-a-half before police arrived.
He said: 'I was lying in bed at 8am and I heard shouting coming from outside. I didn't know what was going on and then later on I heard someone shouting "help".
'I think there must have been an argument or a bit of a fight before the man got stabbed. I looked out of my balcony and saw the guy lying on the street and police cars everywhere.'
Dervish Husseyin, 60, was at his friend's house on Aberdeen Road when the stabbing took place and said: 'I [saw] the woman lying down, face down', adding: 'She said they had beaten her up'.
Mr Husseyin said the woman had 'blood on her back' but did not seem to realise she had been stabbed.
'She said she only went out for a walk on her own,' he said. He added that the woman who was stabbed lives locally and English is not her first language.
The rampage of stabbings follows the announcement that Home Secretary Sajid Javid is set to launch a 'Stop and Search blitz' to put a stop to Britain's knife crime.
It will let police in seven regions carry out Stop and Search checks without needing to prove 'reasonable grounds'.
DCI Stuart Smillie from North Area Command said: 'The four victims are all from different backgrounds and appear to have been selected at random due to them being alone and vulnerable. There is nothing to suggest this incident is terror related.
'We are working on the hypothesis that the single male suspect is acting alone and mental health issues may be a factor.
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