Two women are stabbed to death in shopping centre knife attack before 16-year-old is arrested

Two women have died in a knife attack on Thursday at a shopping center in the Czech Republic, officials said.

Police say they detained a teenage suspect in connection with the stabbings in a store in the city of Hradec Kralove, some 100km east of Prague.

Reports initially said the unidentified victims, who were allegedly saleswomen, had been injured, one of them seriously. But police later said both had died.

A 16-year-old Czech national was detained by police about one one kilometer from the scene on Akademika Bedrny Street, shortly after the attack. 

According to Blick, a knife measuring 20cm long was found nearby.

‘We arrested the suspect approximately ten minutes later, less than a kilometre from the scene of the crime. He was arrested by the intervention unit,’ local police told radio station CT24. 

According to the Czech police, the minor attacked one of the women ‘inside one of the shops in the shopping centre’, before he ambushed the other victim in the ‘back of another shop’.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala offered his condolences to the relatives of the dead following the attack at 8:30am local time.

‘What has happened in Hradec Kralove today is an absolutely incomprehensible and horrible act,’ he posted on X. ‘I am thinking of the families of the victims’.

A 16-year-old Czech national was detained by police about one one kilometer from the scene, shortly after the attack

The motive for the attack was not immediately known. 

Police say the situation was under control and there was no danger to the public. No other details were immediately available. 

The store was surrounded by police tape, but according to local reporters, the shopping area is still in normal operation.

‘We are investigating the attacker’s motivation through the National Center for Combating Terrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime and other analysts. As soon as we have the initial information, we will publish it,’ police said added on X.

In a statement on the social media platform, they clarified: ‘We received several emergency calls about a knife-wielding attacker in Hradec Králové shortly after 8:30am.

‘The callers reported several people being stabbed. 

‘We dispatched all available resources to the scene, including several rescue crews, a doctor, a traffic inspector, and an emergency response vehicle. 

‘We will publish more information during the day’. 

They confirmed that the police chief was present in the store within a minute of the attack, where they immediately began administering first aid to the women.

Once it was confirmed the two women had died from their injuries, the officers posted a message reading: ‘Although we arrived at the scene within minutes of receiving the report, both victims suffered such serious injuries that they could not be saved despite all the efforts of the responders.’ 

Following the attack, cops took to X to urge customers to continue visiting the shopping are and the store where the attack occurred in the near future.  

‘Police crisis intervention teams are working on the scene throughout the intervention, and dozens of police officers and criminal investigators are currently involved in verifying information. We are working both in the immediate vicinity and at other locations within the city,’ the force said.

And highlighting the shock at the nature of the tragedy, Czech Police said: ‘Over the last two years, there has been an approximately 25 per cent increase in the number of children committing violent crimes. 

‘This is a phenomenon that the police president also mentioned at a press conference. 

‘In the current case, we will be interested not only in the person of the attacker, but also in the circumstances of the attack, relationships with the environment and motivation’.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.