A man with a sword was arrested after stabbing several people in northeast London just as the morning commute was beginning on Tuesday, sending five victims to the hospital, the authorities said.
Just before 7 a.m. the police received reports of a vehicle being driven into a house and multiple people being stabbed in Hainault, a neighborhood in northeast London, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police.
Video of the incident circulating on social media showed a man wearing a yellow sweatshirt wielding a large sword in the middle of several houses in the neighborhood.
The suspect, who has not been named, went on to attack more members of the public and two police officers, the police said.
A 36-year-old man was arrested at the scene. The London Ambulance Service reported that five people were taken to a hospital. Their conditions are unknown.
Ade Adelekan, the deputy assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, said there was no ongoing threat to the community and that the incident did not appear to be terror related.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement that he was devastated over the news and that additional patrols would be added to the area.
“The police officers and emergency services showed the best of our city — running toward danger to protect others and I thank them from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
James Cleverly, Britain’s home secretary, said on social media that he was being regularly updated about the incident. He urged people not to speculate or share footage of the episode online.
Knife crime has been on the rise across England and Wales for more than a decade, according to the Office for National Statistics. Knife crime recorded by the police in the year ending September 2023 increased by 5 percent, to nearly 49,000 offenses, compared with the previous year, the data showed. However, knife crime was still 5 percent lower than prepandemic levels.
