ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP
A stabbing attack left one dead – a 14-year-old boy – and four injured in east London.
A 36-year-old man arrested Tuesday after carrying out a stabbing attack that left a 14-year-old boy dead in London was charged Wednesday with murder, police said. Marcus Aurelio Arduini Monzo, who has dual Spanish and Brazilian nationality, is being prosecuted for the murder of Daniel Anjorin, Scotland Yard said in a press release.
Four other people were injured, including two police officers, so he was also charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of wounding, according to a Scotland Yard statement. The suspect must be presented to court on Thursday. Earlier on Wednesday, police in the British capital detailed the itinerary of the attacker, who was quickly arrested.
“We are starting to have an idea of what happened on Tuesday” but the investigation is “complex given the number of crime scenes, forensic evidence, hours of CCTV footage and witnesses we need to speak to”explained Chief Inspector Larry Smith, in charge of the investigation, in a press release.
Shortly before 7:00 a.m. (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday, witnesses contacted police after seeing a van crash into a fence in front of a house near the Hainault metro station. “A 33-year-old man was struck (by the van) and then attacked by the suspect and injured in the neck”, detailed the head of the investigation. A 35-year-old man then suffered “arm lacerations” after being attacked in a neighboring property, then the suspect attacked a 14-year-old boy, Daniel Anjorin, who died of his injuries shortly after being taken to hospital.
Increase in attacks
The police arrived on the scene “12 minutes after the first call”, first attempted to neutralize the suspect with a stun bomb and their electric pulse gun, but without success. Two of them were seriously injured by the suspect, who “fled again before being surrounded by other agents” in a nearby street. He is finally arrested “22 minutes” after the first call to the police.
Injured, he was first taken to hospital and “is now in police custody”, according to the police report. According to initial checks, he was not known to the police for previous incidents. The police have ruled out a terrorist motive at this stage.
This attack came against a backdrop of an increase in stabbing attacks in the United Kingdom and two days before local elections in the British capital, where the conservative opposition is very critical of the security record of Labor Mayor Sadiq Khan. Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denounced a “shocking incident”. “My thoughts are with those affected and their families”he wrote on X, adding that “such violence has no place on our streets.