The dead included two 19-year-old students from the University of Nottingham in the shocking early morning rampage.
A knife-wielding assailant stabbed two college students to death in the streets of the English city of Nottingham and then fatally stabbed a middle-aged man, stole his van and ran down three pedestrians in a shocking rampage early Tuesday morning, police said.
Police arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder. The Nottinghamshire Police force said investigators believe the perpetrator acted alone and detectives were working with counterterrorism officers to try to establish a motive.
“This is a horrific and tragic incident which has claimed the lives of three people,” Chief Constable Kate Meynell said.
A man who was among the people struck in the hit-and-run was hospitalized in critical condition. The dead included two 19-year-old students from the University of Nottingham.
“All of us at Nottingham are deeply shocked and saddened by the deaths of two of our students,” Vice Chancellor Shearer West said in a statement.
A graduation ball scheduled for Tuesday evening was canceled. Many college students joined a vigil at St. Peter’s Church, in the city center, late Tuesday to mourn the victims. Some lit candles, while others laid flowers beneath the altar.
The knife attack on the students occurred around dawn in an area near student housing a short walk from the university’s Jubilee Campus. A caller reported that two stabbing victims were lying in the street.
Police think the attacker then killed a man in his 50s and took his van, Meynell said. His body was found on a different street more than a mile from the first crime scene.
About 90 minutes after the initial attack, witnesses were horrified as they watched the van plow into pedestrians and flee.
