LONDON (Reuters) – A police officer who was seriously injured while dealing with a knife attack in the Scottish city of Glasgow said on Saturday that the incident could have been a lot worse had it not been for the swift actions of his colleagues.
A man stabbed six people at a hotel in the city centre on Friday before he was shot dead by police. The attacker was the only person killed, and police said they were not looking for any other suspects and were not treating the incident as terrorism.
“The incident myself and colleagues faced in West George Street was extremely challenging. The scene we were confronted with is something I will never forget,” said Constable David Whyte in a statement issued from hospital.
“Despite suffering serious injuries myself, I know that the swift actions of colleagues saved lives and prevented a far more serious incident,” he said.
Whyte’s condition was initially described as critical. On Saturday police said he was in a stable condition.
The hotel where the attack took place was being used to house asylum seekers during the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities cautioned against speculating about a motive.
Three of the other people who were injured were asylum seekers, and two were hotel staff. All five remained in hospital, and one was in a critical but stable condition.
Several British media reported on Saturday that the attacker was an asylum seeker from Sudan and that there had been signs in the hours preceding the attack that he was suffering mental health problems and behaving erratically. Police did not confirm those details.
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon)
