Labour MP Jo Cox is fighting for her life after being shot and stabbed near her constituency in Leeds.
She was ‘shot three times and stabbed with foot-long knife’ and, according to witnesses, the 41 year old mother of two was left lying in blood on pavement.
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The attacker allegedly screamed ‘Britain First’ as he calmly walked away.
West Yorkshire Police have arrested a 52-year-old man.
David Cameron has cancelled his trip to Gibraltar in light of the attack.
It’s right that all campaigning has been stopped after the terrible attack on Jo Cox. I won’t go ahead with tonight’s rally in Gibraltar.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 16, 2016
The Mirror reports:
Married mother-of-two Jo Cox is in critical condition in hospital after the shooting and stabbing incident near her constituency surgery at a library in Birstall, near Leeds, this lunchtime.
Cops at the scene have confirmed they have arrested a 52-year-old man in connection with the incident .
A photo emerged online of two police officers holding down a man at the scene – apparently radioing for back-up.
The picture first emerged on Snapchat before being posted on Twitter by local Labour Councillor for Dewsbury South Gulfam Asif.
The councillor claimed it showed police apprehending the suspected attacker.
A trail of blood can be seen leading from the man’s arm.
Eyewitnesses reported the attacker was heard to shout “Britain First” during the incident.
A cafe owner who witnessed the shooting has told of how he heard a ‘loud popping noise’ before seeing the gunman lunge at everyone with a knife.
Clarke Rothwell said: “I could hear a loud popping noise which sounded more like a balloon bursting.”
“When I looked round there was a man stood there in his fifties, with a white baseball cap on and grey jacket with a gun, an old-fashioned looking gun in his hands.
“He shot this lady once, then he shot her again and she fell to the floor. Went over, shot her once more in the face area, somebody tried grabbing, wrestling with her, then he was wielding a knife, a hunting knife.
“He just started lunging at her with a knife, half a dozen times.”
Clarke said people were screaming and running from the area as the gunman started ‘lunging at everybody with the knife.
“A gentleman with a bald head in his 50s got very close and he lunged forward and stabbed him straight in the stomach, and tried to reload his gun to shoot people nearby again but people were sort of trying to surround him, obviously with him having a gun and a knife you couldn’t get too close,” he said.
“He then found an exit point and he just ran down the one-way street and disappeared off.”
Clarke said people were ‘hysterical’ in the aftermath of the incident.
A police spokesman said: “At 12.53 today, police were called to a report of an incident on Market Street, Birstall, where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries and is in a critical condition.
“A man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby also suffered slight injuries.
“Armed officers attended and a 52-year-old man was arrested in the area. There are no further details at present.
Niamh Harris
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