A Pole who was first on the scene following a horrific knife attack in Britain on Monday has spoken about how he and his friend helped save wounded children.
The attack occurred in Southport, northwestern England, at a venue where dance classes for children aged six to 11 were taking place.
The perpetrator – a 17-year-old male who cannot be named for legal reasons – killed three girls aged six, seven and nine, and injured eight children and two adults, before being arrested.
His motives are as yet unknown. He was born in Cardiff but later moved to the northwestern Merseyside area with his parents, originally from Rwanda.
First on the scene, along with his friend Joe, was a Pole named Marcin, who spoke to Polish commercial broadcaster TVN about how they helped save children before the first ambulances arrived.
Marcin was nearby at the time of the incident. He said that he was in a car with his friend and saw children running down the road “very quickly”.
“We drove maybe 10 meters [closer] and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bleeding woman lying on the pavement, leaning against the car. We stopped, backed up and she started screaming,” he said.
“My first thought was that maybe one of the children had simply pushed her and that's why they were running away or something like that. But she started saying that there was someone inside and killing children,” Marcin added.
The perpetrator – a 17-year-old male who cannot be named for legal reasons – killed three girls aged six, seven and nine, and injured eight children and two adults, before being arrested.
His motives are as yet unknown. He was born in Cardiff but later moved to the northwestern Merseyside area with his parents, originally from Rwanda.
First on the scene, along with his friend Joe, was a Pole named Marcin, who spoke to Polish commercial broadcaster TVN about how they helped save children before the first ambulances arrived.
‘So much screaming’
Marcin was nearby at the time of the incident. He said that he was in a car with his friend and saw children running down the road “very quickly”.
“We drove maybe 10 meters [closer] and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bleeding woman lying on the pavement, leaning against the car. We stopped, backed up and she started screaming,” he said.
“My first thought was that maybe one of the children had simply pushed her and that's why they were running away or something like that. But she started saying that there was someone inside and killing children,” Marcin added.
“We ran through the backyard and then inside… Inside were five, six children, a woman and everyone was screaming. The first thing I thought was that she had simply done something wrong and wanted to run away. I stopped her, there was so much screaming, we couldn't understand a thing.
“At some point we understood she just wanted to go out into the street and park, that she had children, she wanted to take them home. In the meantime, my friend ran inside and I took her away because I was afraid that she would simply run away from the scene.”
Marcin said that his friend, Joe, ran out of the building with the first child in his arms.
“Then it hit me that something more was wrong. We put the girl on the pavement and I started pressing on the wounds to stop the bleeding. She was unconscious, lying limply, blood was dripping from her shirt, her head was badly cut and I thought that was the only wound. And I pressed on her head.
“After a while I realized that there was a lot of blood under us and I noticed that there was a hole in her back. And I started pressing on both her back and her head,” Marcin said.
“I don't know how much time passed, but then Joe came running out with another girl. And people started running from the area, neighbors, they started bringing towels. Someone took care of one girl, and I took care of the first one. And then in a moment Joe brought out another girl and another one.
“I didn't even know that the attacker was inside. We were in such a state of shock, in such a frenzy to save these children, that we didn't even have time to speak to each other.
“From what Joe [later] told me, he [the perpetrator] was standing on the landing. A child was lying next to him, he didn't say anything, he just stood there holding a big knife and that was it. Joe didn't make a move toward him, he just took care of the children and brought them out one by one,” Marcin added.
“When the first three ambulances arrived, they took care of the children who were carried out last. I didn't know what condition each of them was in, because they were all seriously injured, blood was dripping from each child.
“Later a fourth ambulance arrived. I jumped out and said that I had someone in very, very bad condition. We ran together to the girl I was taking care of.
Marcin explained that while dressing her wounds, he realized that the girl had stopped breathing and he tried to start resuscitating her.
“I just held her head the whole time, and in the meantime her mother arrived, parents started arriving. Everyone was crying, screaming, some were picking up their children.
“After all that, when the police had gone and taken our statements, I returned home and didn't know what to do with myself. I got in the car and went to the hospital. I wanted to ask what was going on with the girl I was taking care of, but the hospital said they wouldn't give me that information because I wasn't family, which is understandable,” Marcin said.
“I returned home and started calling friends who worked at the hospital to find out if anyone knew anything. People started calling me back. It turned out that someone knew people who were friends with these people.
“I was in constant contact with the girl’s mother and we wrote about how we were feeling. At first, we knew two people had died. I didn't know if she was alive or not. I was sure she had died, I was devastated. I couldn't forgive myself. Maybe I could have done something more? I don't know. I tried,” he said emotionally.
Marcin was referring to nine-year-old Alice Aguiar, who died on Tuesday morning in hospital.
“When I found out she was alive, that she was undergoing surgery, it was better. I thought maybe she'll pull through, maybe she'll survive. In the morning I got up, opened my eyes and didn't want to find out [what had happened], but I did. In the back of my mind I'll always have that maybe I could have done something more,” he added, holding back tears.
Marcin moved to Southport in 2007. “There's never been anything this bad,” he said.
Speaking about the perpetrator, Marcin said that he “wasn't from here”.
“A young guy. He lived in the village nearby. Maybe if he was older, he would have attacked us. He was clearly scared of us. He had nowhere to run because we were saving those children by the gate.
“Even if he had jumped out, there was no chance he could have escaped. We would have had him there. And we definitely wouldn't have let him escape then, but he simply barricaded himself in on those stairs. He stood with that knife and waited.”
“At some point we understood she just wanted to go out into the street and park, that she had children, she wanted to take them home. In the meantime, my friend ran inside and I took her away because I was afraid that she would simply run away from the scene.”
Saving children
Marcin said that his friend, Joe, ran out of the building with the first child in his arms.
“Then it hit me that something more was wrong. We put the girl on the pavement and I started pressing on the wounds to stop the bleeding. She was unconscious, lying limply, blood was dripping from her shirt, her head was badly cut and I thought that was the only wound. And I pressed on her head.
“After a while I realized that there was a lot of blood under us and I noticed that there was a hole in her back. And I started pressing on both her back and her head,” Marcin said.
“I don't know how much time passed, but then Joe came running out with another girl. And people started running from the area, neighbors, they started bringing towels. Someone took care of one girl, and I took care of the first one. And then in a moment Joe brought out another girl and another one.
“I didn't even know that the attacker was inside. We were in such a state of shock, in such a frenzy to save these children, that we didn't even have time to speak to each other.
‘He just stood there holding a big knife’
“From what Joe [later] told me, he [the perpetrator] was standing on the landing. A child was lying next to him, he didn't say anything, he just stood there holding a big knife and that was it. Joe didn't make a move toward him, he just took care of the children and brought them out one by one,” Marcin added.
“When the first three ambulances arrived, they took care of the children who were carried out last. I didn't know what condition each of them was in, because they were all seriously injured, blood was dripping from each child.
“Later a fourth ambulance arrived. I jumped out and said that I had someone in very, very bad condition. We ran together to the girl I was taking care of.
‘I just held her head the whole time’
Marcin explained that while dressing her wounds, he realized that the girl had stopped breathing and he tried to start resuscitating her.
“I just held her head the whole time, and in the meantime her mother arrived, parents started arriving. Everyone was crying, screaming, some were picking up their children.
“After all that, when the police had gone and taken our statements, I returned home and didn't know what to do with myself. I got in the car and went to the hospital. I wanted to ask what was going on with the girl I was taking care of, but the hospital said they wouldn't give me that information because I wasn't family, which is understandable,” Marcin said.
“I returned home and started calling friends who worked at the hospital to find out if anyone knew anything. People started calling me back. It turned out that someone knew people who were friends with these people.
“I was in constant contact with the girl’s mother and we wrote about how we were feeling. At first, we knew two people had died. I didn't know if she was alive or not. I was sure she had died, I was devastated. I couldn't forgive myself. Maybe I could have done something more? I don't know. I tried,” he said emotionally.
Marcin was referring to nine-year-old Alice Aguiar, who died on Tuesday morning in hospital.
“When I found out she was alive, that she was undergoing surgery, it was better. I thought maybe she'll pull through, maybe she'll survive. In the morning I got up, opened my eyes and didn't want to find out [what had happened], but I did. In the back of my mind I'll always have that maybe I could have done something more,” he added, holding back tears.
Marcin moved to Southport in 2007. “There's never been anything this bad,” he said.
‘He was clearly scared of us’
Speaking about the perpetrator, Marcin said that he “wasn't from here”.
“A young guy. He lived in the village nearby. Maybe if he was older, he would have attacked us. He was clearly scared of us. He had nowhere to run because we were saving those children by the gate.
“Even if he had jumped out, there was no chance he could have escaped. We would have had him there. And we definitely wouldn't have let him escape then, but he simply barricaded himself in on those stairs. He stood with that knife and waited.”
Source: TVN
