3 Stabbed in Central London in Suspected Robbery

A police officer looks at medical equipment at the scene after three people have been taken to hospital following reports of stabbings at Bishopsgate in London on Oct. 6, 2022. James Manning/PA Media

Three people were taken to hospital on Thursday morning following a stabbing in central London, police said.

A fourth victim was discharged after being treated at the scene outside 22 Bishopsgate near Liverpool Street station, according to London Ambulance Service.

The City of London Police said the incident is being treated as a suspected robbery, not as a terror-related incident.

Witnesses said the incident started as a phone robbery and that the victims were stabbed trying to stop the robbery.

Writing on Twitter, the City of London Police said they had received reports at 9:46 a.m. of three stabbings and a person pushed to the floor. Officers arrived at the scene at 9:51 a.m.

Investigations are ongoing, police said. It’s understood that the attackers fled the scene.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the victims’ injuries are not life-threatening.

A 50-metre-long police cordon was set up at the scene. By 3 p.m., forensic teams arrived, combing the area for clues and taking photographs.

Blood and medical equipment at the scene after three people have been taken to hospital following reports of stabbings at Bishopsgate in London on Oct. 6, 2022. James Manning/PA Media

A shop owner near the scene said two masked boys tried to snatch a man’s phone.

Sayeed Dukanwala, 53, owner of BK News newsagent, said he was working when he saw a man running past the shop “shouting ‘Oi oi oi.'”

“Two boys on a bike, I believe, tried to nick his phone. I think [he] was trying to get people’s attention," Dukanwala told The Times of London, adding that the boys’ faces were obscured by helmets and scarves.

He then went outside and saw “four or five people fighting.”

“They tried to stop one of the men on the bike but then he pulled out a knife and started stabbing them,” the shop owner said, calling the victims ”heroes.”

Another nearby worker told the PA news agency that he saw two or three teenagers on bicycles following a middle-aged “smartly dressed” man.

“The next thing I saw was this teenager grabbing this guy, this middle-aged man. Things escalated so quickly. Pedestrians got involved and they were trying to help the middle-aged man. I heard lots of screams and shouts. The next minute, a man on a white moped saw what happened and jumped off, and got himself involved,” the witness said.

“There was a fight with these teenagers. Out of nowhere, the guy on the moped got stabbed. The middle-aged man was already on the floor at this point after he got stabbed and another pedestrian got hurt too, his head was hurt. The teenagers then just took off.”

A video was later shared on social media showing police detaining a man, with the caption saying, “#bishopsgate man apprehended following stabbing of 4,” before the City of London Police clarified that it was a “separate incident and does not relate to the incident on Bishopsgate this morning.”