Yesterday, the son of immigrants from Africa attacked a dance class for elementary school children in Southport, England, about 19 miles north of Liverpool. Of the 11 victims, including two adults, three children have since died: six-year-old Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar. Five of the wounded children are in critical condition, as are the two adults.
The mass stabbing occurred just before noon Monday, July 29, at The Hart Space, a dance school on Hart Street in Southport. The children were attending a dance class themed after Taylor Swift, who expressed her regrets online.
Initially identified only as a “17-year-old male,” the attacker, who has not been named for legal reasons, is the son of Rwandan immigrants. He resides at nearby Banks, Lancashire, approximately four miles from Southport. Witnesses say he arrived by cab in the vicinity of the school earlier and drew attention when he refused to pay the driver. Later, for reasons unclear, he attacked the schoolchildren with a knife. Authorities have already ruled out “terrorism.”
As this is being written, reports are coming in that an angry crowd perhaps of thousands has assembled near a Southport mosque. Riot police have been called as protestors have begun throwing bricks and setting off fireworks. With police helicopters are circling over the area, the British newspaper, The Independent, reports that shouts of “English till I die!” and “No surrender!” are being heard, as bricks and bottles are flying.
The United Kingdom has been suffering a bona fide invasion from across the English Channel for years, with little resistance from the government. Will they listen now?
For more, see the BBC.