A LONE wolf attacker brought terror to Nottingham yesterday, murdering victims at random.
The suspect is a foreign national suspected to have a history of mental health problems.
Blood-curdling screams signalled the start of the horror at 4am, when two teen students were stabbed to death near the University of Nottingham campus.
Barnaby Webber and pal Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, were targeted in the student area of Ilkeston Road.
Around an hour later, more than two miles away in Magdala Road, a van driver, 54, was stabbed to death and his vehicle stolen.
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Then, at 5.30am the white Vauxhall Vivaro rammed into three people waiting for a bus in Milton Street in the city centre.
Last night one of the victims, a man, was in hospital in a critical condition.
The other two are said to have suffered minor injuries.
Minutes later police forced the van to a stop in Bentinck Road and arrested a man, 31. They recovered a large knife.
It is understood the suspect from West Africa is not British but is a legal UK resident and had been settled here since at least his teens, The Times reports.
He does not have a criminal record and is not thought to have been on the radar of MI5 or counter-terror police.
However, sources say he has a suspected history of mental health issues.
A witness to the first killings told the BBC: “I had the window open and I just heard some awful, blood-curdling screams.
“I looked out of the window and saw a guy all in black with a hood and rucksack grappling with some people. She was screaming ‘help’. I just wish I’d shouted something to unnerve the assailant.
“I saw him stab the lad first and then the woman. It was repeated stabbing — four or five times.
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“The lad collapsed in the middle of the road. The girl stumbled and didn’t move. The attacker walked off as calm as anything.”
A third-year psychology student came across the horrific scene as she travelled home alone in an Uber.
The 21-year-old, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “We saw this body in the road. At first I thought it was a mannequin but when the driver swerved to avoid it I saw it was a body.
“The driver called the police and I got out and ran towards it.
“I was the first one there and I could see he wasn’t responding. He was covered in stab wounds from his neck to his toes.”
Amazon delivery driver Miklos Toldi, 37, later found the body of the hijacked van driver.
He said: “I saw a body lying by the side of the road and the blood trailing down the road. My first reaction was he was a drunk.” Another witness said police were following the stolen van when it crashed into the bus queue.
Lynn Haggitt said: “The man in the driver’s seat looked in his mirror and saw the police car.
“The white van then quickened up to the corner of the street and went into two people.
“He went straight into them and didn’t even bother to turn.”
Carl Cassidy, dropping his wife off for work, said: “We heard an almighty bang. A white van swerved and missed us by inches, mounting the pavement.”
Student Kane Brady saw the suspect being arrested. He said: “We woke up to shouts of ‘armed police’ and what sounded like very loud noises, like gunshots.
“I looked out the bedroom window and saw Tasers. I saw a man being dragged out (of the van) and pinned to the floor.
“I saw him trying to resist and later when they opened the van, a large knife being pulled out.”
Notts Police Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: “We are keeping an open mind and working alongside Counter Terrorism Policing.
“Victims families have been informed and are being supported.” Two houses thought to have been linked to the suspect were raided by armed police.
One had been empty since last October, said neighbours, following a previous swoop by cops in connection with a drugs racket.
PM Rishi Sunak tweeted: “My thoughts are with those injured, and the family and loved ones of those who have lost their lives.”
Nottingham’s Labour MPs Nadia Whittome, Lilian Greenwood and Alex Norris, said they were “shaken” by the killings.
