Man ‘armed with pickaxe’ goes on ‘rampage’ at London hospital as two victims are stabbed and one fights for life

21 June 2023, 14:09 | Updated: 21 June 2023, 16:33

A knife victim is fighting for their life after being stabbed at a hospital in London as police arrested a man who injured himself.

Central Middlesex Hospital was locked down at about 1.30pm as armed police swept on the West London site on Wednesday afternoon.

Officers found two victims with stab injuries. One has suffered life-threatening wounds.

The other is not being treated as life-threatening.

A man was arrested outside the hospital, and is being treated there after receiving injuries that are thought to have been self-inflicted.

Officers stayed at the hospital to search the building but it is not thought anyone else was involved.

A witness told LBC a man armed with a “pickaxe” was seen in a confrontation with two other people before the stabbing.

“He had a pickaxe and he was swinging it around,” the witness told LBC.

“He’s lost the plot,” he said.

“I thought something had happened to patients. A maintenance boy told me he’s just stabbed somebody, get away from these premises, he’s going on a rampage.”

Caution: Strong language

The Met said in a statement: "Police are working to establish the circumstances. At this time the incident is not being treated as terror-related.

"The hospital was temporarily locked down but has now re-opened and will be operating services as normal. There is a heightened police presence at the hospital while we investigate."

Witnesses earlier said they were "sheltering" in "safe rooms" as footage showed armed officers rushing in.

One man tweeted his partner was at the hospital and "police with guns [are] swarming hospital now".

"Partner been advised to stay locked in room with colleagues/patients," he tweeted.

Journalist Amie Ferris-Rotman wrote: "I am at Middlesex Central hospital in the dialysis unit and we're sheltering in safe rooms. Armed policemen are on the scene, being described as a "major incident"."

She told LBC she was on the second floor with her father who was visiting the dialysis unit.

They were put into a locked "safe room" until the suspect was found.

"I used to live in Afghanistan as a reporter, so I went into automatic crisis [mode]," she said.

"We didn't hear shooting or anything. There were lots of police and they're still here because the whole hospital's been evacuated and everyone's standing outside."

They have now been given the all-clear, she said.

The hospital is run by the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, which said: "We can confirm an incident took place at Central Middlesex Hospital this afternoon.

"Police are on site and the hospital was temporarily locked down for a short period of time as a precautionary measure. Working closely with the Metropolitan Police, we have now reopened the hospital and services will continue as normal."