A local journalist said a number of the victims in the sunny seaside town were children.
The North West Ambulance Service said it responded to “reports of multiple stabbings in which we have dispatched multiple resources.” It said it “treated eight patients with stab injuries who have been taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby Hospital.”
The stabbings were reported just before noon local time, police said, at a property on Hart Street, a mostly residential road of two-story brick buildings with some scattered shops.
Tim Johnson, a journalist at Eye on Southport, told the BBC that the stabbings appeared to have happened at a small community center that hosts events for children. He said he saw a bloodied girl on a stretcher.
“Her parents were running after her. It was horrendous. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Johnson told the broadcaster.
The BBC reported that a “Taylor Swift Yoga and Dance Workshop” for primary schoolchildren was taking place near the scene.
BBC Radio interviewed a man who he said saw young girls “bleeding.” A Press Association reporter interviewed a man who said some of the victims appeared to be around 10 years old.
Other witnesses told reporters that parents were running up and down the street, wailing and screaming. Local WhatsApp groups received frenzied messages telling people to go inside and lock doors.
Monday was the first day of the school summer holidays.
The Merseyside Police said they arrested a 17-year-old from the nearby village of Banks in connection with the stabbings.
“We can also confirm that the incident is not currently being treated as terror-related, and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident,” the police said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the stabbings as “horrendous and deeply shocking news.”
Merseyside Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell confirmed that one man was detained and taken to a police station. She asked the public not to spread rumors.
A motive for the stabbings was not immediately clear.
The police said there was no wider threat to the public and requested that people avoid the area.
Southport is a seaside town known for its beaches and Victorian architecture, about an hour’s drive north of Liverpool. It has a population of about 95,000.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
