West Midlands Police have confirmed that one man is dead following a night of violence in multicultural Birmingham, and seven others injured — two “seriously”, including a woman.
Police had previously declared a “major incident” in England’s second city following multiple stabbings overnight, with an eyewitness who spoke to the BBC also claiming to have heard “many gunshots” and to have seen one male shooting victim laying on the ground.
Police are yet to confirm the use of firearms during the violence, but have confirmed that one of the victims has died.
“We can now confirm that we’ve launched a murder investigation following the events in Birmingham city centre overnight,” the force reported in an official statement.
“A man has tragically died. Another man and a woman have suffered serious injuries and five others have also been injured, although their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
“We believe the incidents, which took place between 12:30 am and 2:20 am, are linked and we’re doing all we can to find whoever was responsible,” they added.
Motives for and descriptions of the attackers are yet to be provided, but the chatter on social media appears to point to multi-ethnic gang violence rather than terrorism.
One unverified claim is that the violence stemmed from a clash between black and South Asian gangs, but the eyewitness who reported gunshots to the BBC also said that, while she heard many racial slurs being hurled, “it wasn’t just black people against Asian people, or white people against anybody else, it was many groups… all different cultures just going at each other; it wasn’t like it was race on race, it was like group on group.”
“The events during the early hours of this morning are tragic, shocking and understandably frightening,” commented Chief Superintendent Steve Graham for the police.
“Please be assured that we are doing absolutely everything we can to find whoever was responsible and try to understand what exactly happened,” he said.
“We have well-rehearsed plans for dealing with major incidents. Your safety is always our priority and that’s why you’ll see an increase in officers on the streets.
“In the meantime, we’d ask anyone who’s in the city to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to us,” he urged.
“Last night’s events are truly terrible and have shocked the people of Birmingham, the West Midlands and the country,” added the elected Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, a former Labour MP and low-level government minister under Tony Blair.
“My first thoughts are with the victims and their families at this time.,” he said.
“I have every faith in West Midlands Police who are working extremely quickly on this investigation.
“My thanks also go to the ambulance and hospital staff who are working around the clock to help those who have been injured.”
This story is developing…
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