A man accused of carrying out a mass stabbing at Huntingdon station in England over the weekend has been taken into police custody.
Anthony Williams, 32, was charged with 11 counts of attempted murder and one count of actual bodily harm after stabbing and slicing almost a dozen bystanders on a London-bound train.
“For now, there is little I can say about this man and his past, beyond confirming that he is a British national and was born in this country,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.
“We worked closely with British Transport Police to review a huge volume of evidence, including CCTV,” Chief Crown Prosecutor Tracy Easton said. “The number of charges will be kept under review as this continues to progress.”
The mayhem unfolded on Saturday evening aboard a train traveling from Doncaster to London. Police received a deluge of calls reporting a knife attack after the train left Peterborough.
Passengers fled further down the train to escape the attacker, whom witnesses said was speaking in an aggressive and delusional manner, asking passengers whether they wanted to die and asserting that the devil is “not going to win.”
At the same time, several train staff and civilians rushed to confront the attacker, suffering various injuries in the scuffle.
Stephen Crean, a bystander who spoke to various British outlets about his “tussle” with the assailant, reported extensive lacerations on his hands.
London North Eastern Railway driver Andrew Johnson was praised by the train company and civil authorities for his quick decision to make an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon station to allow police officers to board the train and apprehend the suspect.
The suspect was detained approximately eight minutes after the first emergency calls were made, according to police.
Five of the people injured in the attack are still in the hospital, with one “critically unwell,” according to the British Transport Police. Six others have been discharged from the hospital.
Police are investigating whether Williams has any connection to a recent spate of stabbings, including one involving a 14-year-old on Friday.
Authorities have also bolstered police presence at train stations across the country in the days following the stabbing.
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U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised the collective actions of train staff, emergency responders, and bystanders.
“There’s no doubt that their collective action, their brave action, saved countless lives, and I know the whole country is grateful for that,” he said.