Hospital stabbings: Two victims were attacked with axe

BBC

Two people attacked by a man at a London hospital were injured by an axe.

Armed police were called to Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal at 13:18 BST on Wednesday.

Officers found two men, believed to be aged in their 40s, with injuries thought to have been caused by a mattock, a type of pick-axe.

Police located a man, also aged in his 40s, outside the hospital and he was arrested on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder.

Both the suspect and the injured men are contracted hospital staff who are known to each other, the Metropolitan Police said, adding no patients or visitors were hurt during the incident.

The victims are not in a life-threatening condition, but one’s injuries “may be life-changing”, the force said.

A third victim was also targeted by the attacker but “was fortunate not to have sustained any injuries”.

The arrested man was treated in hospital for “self-inflicted” injuries and has now been discharged from hospital into police custody.

Officers have since further arrested him on suspicion of possessing of an offensive weapon, affray, and a third count of attempted murder.

Both injured victims are continuing to receive treatment in hospital and their next of kin are aware, the Met said, adding the incident was not being treated as terror-related.

The hospital, on the border of Brent and Ealing in north-west London, was temporarily locked down during the incident and witnesses described how patients and visitors were locked in a nurses’ room.

The building later reopened with a heightened police presence.

Jamie Hogg, a contractor who saw the incident unfold, said he and his colleagues were visiting the hospital to carry out work…