A third child has died after a knife attack at a dance studio on Merseyside in which two other children were killed.
The nine-year-old girl died in hospital early on Tuesday morning after the stabbing on Hart Street in Southport on Monday. Five other children and two adults remain in a critical condition.
Merseyside Police said the other two children who died were aged six and seven.
A 17-year-old boy, from Banks in Lancashire, who was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder following the attack at the Taylor Swift themed event remains in police custody, the force said.
A police spokesman said a name shared online in connection with the suspect was “incorrect” and urged people “not to speculate on details of the incident while the investigation is ongoing”.
Specialist officers were supporting the families involved “at this terrible time”, he added.
The force said it was not looking for anyone else in connection to the attack, which it added was not being “treated as terror-related”.
The fully-booked club for children, which was advertised as a dance and yoga workshop as well as bracelet-making, quickly became something “like a horror movie”, witnesses to the deadly stabbings have said.
Armed response vehicles were deployed to Hart Street after emergency calls were made to police at 11:47 BST.
US singer Taylor Swift said she was “completely in shock” after the “horror” of the knife attack.
Source Agencies
