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A 53-year-old British man plowed his minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans at a parade celebrating the city team’s Premier League championship on Monday and was arrested, police said.
Authorities reported at a Monday evening news conference that 27 people were taken to hospital as a result of the incident and two of those people were seriously injured. Another 20 individuals were treated at the scene.
Police said the incident is not being treated as terrorism.
“We believe this to be an isolated incident and we are not currently looking for anyone else in relation to it,” Merseyside police Assistant Chief Const. Jenny Sims told the news conference.
‘It was extremely fast’: witness
An air ambulance and other emergency vehicles swarmed the scene earlier in the day in response to reports that multiple pedestrians had been hit.
“It was extremely fast,” said Harry Rashid, who was at the parade with his wife and two young daughters and was just several feet away from the vehicle when the incident happened. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”
Police in Liverpool asked people not to share distressing content of the incident online, but to send footage or information directly to law enforcement.
“We would ask people not to speculate on the circumstances surrounding tonight’s incident on Water Street in Liverpool city centre,” read a police statement.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the situation and thanked police for their quick response.
“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” Starmer said.
Tens of thousands of Liverpool fans had come out to celebrate the team winning the Premier League this season for a record-tying 20th top-flight title. Liverpool’s last league title came in 2020, but supporters were denied the chance to publicly celebrate that trophy due to COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time.
Dancing fans waving scarves and flags braved wet weather to line the streets and climb up traffic lights to get a view of Liverpool’s players who were atop two buses bearing the words “Ours Again.”
‘People on the ground’
The hours-long procession — surrounded by a thick layer of police and security — crawled along a 16-kilometre route and through a sea of red smoke and rain. Fireworks exploded from the Royal Liver Building in the heart of the city to seemingly signal the end of the parade.
The team issued a short statement saying its thoughts and prayers were with those affected. The Premier League issued a similar statement expressing shock at the “appalling events in Liverpool.”
Rashid said after the car rammed its initial victims, it came to a halt and the crowd charged the vehicle and began smashing windows.
“But then he put his foot down again and just plowed through the rest of them, he just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”
Rashid said it looked deliberate and he was in shock and disbelief.
“My daughter started screaming and there were people on the ground,” he said. “They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade.”