2020 Reading stabbings

Shortly before 19:00 BST on 20 June 2020 a lone man shouting what a witness described as "unintelligible words" attacked two groups of people socialising in Forbury Gardens, a public park in the centre of Reading, Berkshire, England, about 40 miles (60 km) west of London, with a knife that a witness estimated to have been at least five inches (13 cm) long.[1][2] According to one report, the victims were stabbed in the neck, under the arms, and in the eye.[3] The witness said the stabbing was "completely random".[4][5] At 18:56 BST, officers from Thames Valley Police went to the park, responding to reports of a stabbing with multiple casualties.[6][7]

A suspect with a knife was chased, tackled, and pinned to the ground on Friar Street a short distance from the park by police officers five minutes after the first 999 call was made.[8][9][10] The man was arrested, initially on suspicion of murder, and later re-arrested while in custody under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.[11]

A Black Lives Matter protest had taken place at the park earlier in the day, but police said that the attack was not associated with the protest.[12]

The suspect is a 25-year-old male Libyan asylum seeker. He was arrested nearby shortly after the attack.[13][14] A family member said he had come to the United Kingdom from Libya in 2012 to flee the civil war there, living first in Manchester.[1][15] The suspect was convicted six times for 15 crimes between 2015 and 2019.[16] A security source told Reuters that the suspect had come to the attention of Britain’s domestic security agency MI5 in 2019 over intelligence that he aspired to travel for extremist purposes, and he had been investigated over jihadist concerns.[17][18] He had been released from jail 17 days prior to the attack, after being sentenced for possessing a bladed article and assault.[1] The Guardian reported that sources said that the suspect was believed by the intelligence agencies to have mental health problems.[3] Sky News additionally reported that he lived in a flat in Reading.[14] Police were on 22 June granted a warrant of further detention with regard to the suspect until 27 June.[19]

The attack resulted in three fatalities at the scene,[20] as well as three seriously injured.[21][22] Two air ambulances were deployed to the scene, and South Central Ambulance Service deployed their Hazardous Area Response Team.[23][24] Of the injured people, two were admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital's emergency department, in Reading.[25][26][27] One other injured person was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, but was discharged without being admitted.[11]

The three men who were killed were friends of each other. They were a 36-year-old teacher at The Holt School, in Wokingham in Berkshire; a 39-year-old American citizen who worked for a pharmaceutical company and had been living in Britain for 15 years; and a 49-year-old senior scientist at the chemical company Johnson Matthey.[28][29]

Initial police statements from Thames Valley Police on the evening of the incident said that the incident was "not currently being treated as a terrorism incident" and that they were "keeping an open mind as to the motivation", although counter terrorism officers were deployed.[30] The next morning, Counter-Terrorism Policing South East stated that the attacks were "a terror incident".[12][30] It took over command of the incident from the local police, with support from MI5.[12][30][31]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his condolences and thanked emergency services for responding to the scene.[33][4][34] On the following morning, 21 June, Johnson met with senior ministers, police, and security officials at 10 Downing Street to be briefed on the events.[12] Home Secretary Priti Patel and Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer both expressed concern over the incident.[4][35]

The leader of Reading Borough Council said he was "shocked and appalled" by the "horrific and senseless attack", expressed his condolences, and thanked the emergency services for their response.[33] The council issued a statement saying that their "thoughts and prayers are with the families of the three people who lost their lives, and for those who remain seriously injured", and announcing that their flag would fly at half mast for the day.[36]

• 2017 London Bridge attack
• 2017 Westminster attack
• 2019 London Bridge stabbing
• 2020 Streatham stabbing
• Glasgow hotel stabbings