According to multiple news sources, Scottish police arrested and charged a man in Edinburgh after he allegedly stabbed at least five people, and are treating the incident as an anti-Muslim hate crime.
Counter-terrorism police were brought into investigate the incident. The Guardian reports, “A 36-year-old white Scottish man was arrested on Friday.”
Reports are that when police arrived at the Sighthill section of Edinburgh around 8:50 p.m., two men had already been injured. The Guardian reported that according to the Scottish Association of Mosques, two Muslims were attacked “in a park after leaving the Broomhouse mosque.”
Shortly after that, police responded to reported attacks in retail areas north and west of town. Police reported that three other alleged victims were attacked “in the Telford Road and Leith Walk area.”
The BBC reported that security video at a BP gas station showed the suspect standing next to a black vehicle after its windshield was broken. The video showed the man entering the station’s building, where he knocked shelves over and created a mess. Shortly after this, the man was seen approaching a nearby pizza shop, but before he got there, the shop’s staff closed electronic shutters, locking him out.
The BBC reached out to MEND Scotland, a Muslim group, which “said that several of the victims were from the Muslim community.”
Police then caught up with the suspect at about 9:30 p.m., tased him, and arrested him. Subsequent photos and posts show the police arresting the man as he lay on the ground.