Six injured in Glasgow stabbing, suspect killed

GLASGOW: Scottish police said officers shot dead a man after a suspected stabbing attack on Friday at a Glasgow hotel housing asylum seekers that left six others injured, including one of their colleagues.

Police Scotland said that the incident at the Park Inn hotel in the city’s centre was not being treated as a terrorist incident.

“The individual who was shot by armed police has died,” Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson said, adding that the situation was “contained” and there was no risk to the general public.

He said that the wounded 42-year-old police officer was in a critical but stable condition, but gave no details on how he or the other victims were injured.

Police were called to the hotel at about 1pm and the surrounding area was cordoned off.

One man who said he lived on the hotel’s third floor told Sky News television he heard a man shouting for help and a woman screaming.

He went to investigate and found the lift was “covered in blood” then saw two people “gasping for air” after being stabbed.

The hotel was being used to house asylum seekers during the coronavirus outbreak, homelessness and human rights charity Positive Action in Housing tweeted.

The Kurdish Scottish Association was quoted as saying by the Glasgow Times newspaper there were about 100 asylum seekers in the hotel at the time.

Residents had complained about being kept inside and a lack of money, while some had mental health problems, it said, calling the situation “shocking”.

Positive Action in Housing has previously voiced concerns about single men, women, families and pregnant women — many of them vulnerable — being “dumped” into hotels.

Britain’s interior ministry has been using empty hotels across the country to house asylum seekers and refugees during the global pandemic.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the events were “truly dreadful”, and praised emergency services who ensured “a very, very serious incident didn’t become much worse”.

UK interior minister Priti Patel said it “deeply alarming” while Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “deeply saddened by the terrible incident”. “My thoughts are with all the victims and their families,” he tweeted.