Counter-terrorism police questioning a 13-year-old suspected of stabbing two boys at a London school said Wednesday the attack had not been designated as terrorism as officers probe “different potential motivations”.
Disclosing various new details about the Tuesday lunchtime double stabbing at the school in Brent, northwest London, police updated that the two victims aged 12 and 13 were in a stable condition in hospital.
Counter Terrorism Detective Chief Superintendent Helen Flanagan also said the suspect was a UK-born former pupil of the school and was apprehended at a northwest London mosque several hours later following a tip from the public.
He is being held on suspicion of attempted murder, as police compile statements from dozens of witnesses, many of them youngsters.
“We are exploring a number of different potential motivations for the attack, and at this time… the incident has not been declared a terrorist incident,” Flanagan told reporters at a briefing.
The senior officer detailed how the suspect arrived at Kingsbury High School at around 12:30 pm Tuesday and entered a first floor classroom where he sprayed a substance not believed to be noxious towards a pupil.
The perpetrator then stabbed a 13-year-old pupil inside the classroom, before running downstairs and knifing another victim, the 12-year-old, as he fled the premises.
Flanagan said officers were still “trying to confirm” reports the suspect may have shouted “Allahu Akbar” meaning “God is the greatest” during the attack but noted “there have been reports of that”.
“We can confirm the suspect is a British National, who was born in the UK and lives in the UK,” she added.
Confirming the 13-year-old arrested was a former pupil, she noted he “was not attending the school at that time”.
Police have recovered the suspected weapon used at the time of his apprehension “in the vacinity of the mosque”.
“We do not believe the suspect had any particular connection to that mosque, and at this stage, we think that it may have been coincidental that he ended up in that area,” Flanagan noted.
The UK, and London in particular, has long grappled with teenage violence and the use of knives, while violence within schools has been growing nationwide, according to unions representing teachers.
The incident has also evoked painful memories of the 2024 Southport attack, when teenager Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls and wounded 10 others in a stabbing spree.
It sparked Britain’s worst anti-migrant riots in decades.
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