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Facebook posts appearing to contain plans for a “massacre” are being examined by counter-terrorism police investigating an attack in which two women were seriously injured in Leeds.
A man, 38, who suffered a “self-inflicted injury” was arrested and two weapons – a crossbow and a firearm – were recovered from the scene, on the popular Otley Run pub crawl route in the north of the city.
He was described on Sunday as a “key suspect” by police who said he remained in hospital in a critical condition.
One of the two women – who are aged 19 and 31 – has been discharged from hospital, but the other underwent surgery after suffering life-threatening injuries and is in a stable condition.
Police also said they were aware of video being circulated on social media, a reference to footage which appeared to have been taken from a passing car and shows a black-clad man carrying an implement and with a carry case slung over his shoulder.
The head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley, said officers were working at pace to establish the full facts and circumstances of Saturday’s incident, but added: “We are not currently seeking anyone else in connection with this matter, which has caused understandable concern. We believe it was an isolated incident.”
Alex Sobel, the Labour MP for Leeds Central and Headingley, said he had spoken to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, on Sunday afternoon and would remain in touch with her as well as the security minister, Dan Jarvis, regarding aspects of the incident.
“I want to thank local people and the blue light services in how they responded to this and the fact that the area has now been cleared and is no longer a live crime scene,” he said.
“The broader implications of an attack in which lethal weapons were found in a very busy area where the country’s most populous pub crawl takes place is a real concern,” he added.
Sobel said he would be raising the issue of the availability of weapons linked to the incident, and how to keep people safe when they are standing in large groups and queueing.
Counter-terror police are examining a number of Facebook posts – including one which appeared to include plans for a “mass-murder” attack – to determine if they are linked to the attacker or the incident.
The post appeared before the attack on a Facebook account that indicated far-right sympathies as well as reflecting the “mixed ideology” that has increasingly been on the radar of counter-terrorism police.
The posts listed as “targets” students, nightclub goers and “neurotypicals”. Reference was made to a “manifesto” written by a man who killed 51 people during shootings at a mosque and Islamic centre in New Zealand in 2019.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, told the Guardian that it had taken action to remove an account apparently associated with the incident.
The home secretary received further updates on Sunday from counter-terrorism police after she was first briefed in the wake of the attack.
The incident caused shock across the community in the Headingley area of Leeds over the weekend, where large numbers of students and others routinely take part in the pub crawl route, days before the summer term starts for many university courses.
One venue, Taylor’s Sports Bar and Grill, remained closed all weekend due to the police investigation but posted on Facebook that it intended to reopen on Monday,
“While appalling to witness some of the scenes first-hand, lowlife scum like this will never win in our society,” the statement added.
A member of staff at another bar said they had seen dozens of emergency service vehicles descend on the area on Saturday afternoon after the attack, although it took hours for people to become fully aware of what had happened.
“We were told and were on high alert, but otherwise you wouldn’t have known. It wasn’t until the evening that people started asking about it,” they said. “I think people have been really shaken by it.”
A fortnight ago, the Guardian revealed that counter-terrorism police and the National Crime Agency had set up a new joint taskforce to tackle young males fixated with violence online which is often also fuelled by “strongly misogynistic” online material.
