Three stabbed and one injured in phone robbery in Bishopsgate
Tap above to watch Duncan Golestani's report on the incident
Three people have been stabbed and another injured after an attempted robbery in Bishopsgate in central London.
A group of two or three masked knifemen attacked a pedestrian just before 10am in Bishopsgate on Thursday, according to witnesses.
Members of the public, who were described as “heroes” by one witness, then intervened to try to stop the attackers.
City of London Police say they are looking for two suspects and are treating the case as a robbery involving a phone being snatched.
The aftermath of the scene outside 22 Bishopsgate where the stabbings occurred
London Ambulance Service say they treated four people, with three taken to hospital and one assessed and discharged at the scene.
None of the three people in hospital have life-threatening injuries.
A witness said he saw two or three teenagers on bicycles watching a middle-aged man before they grabbed him during a phone snatch robbery in the City of London.
The worker, who asked not to be named, said: “I saw two or three teenagers on bicycles and they were following this middle-aged man, around 40 to 50, who was smartly dressed.
“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.
“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.”
Sayeed Dukanwala, owner of BK News, a newsagent’s next to the scene, also witnessed the incident as it unfolded on Thursday morning.
He said: “I was here in my shop working when I saw some guys running past my shop and shouting ‘Oi oi oi.’
“After a few minutes I saw a fight break out over there (at the scene) and people running away.
“Then some people came in and told me there was a stabbing. They said there was a man and a lady on the floor and there was blood.”
He added: “I felt scared and unsafe when I heard what happened.”
Nickie Aiken, the Conservative MP for Cities of London and Westminster said she was in contact with police about the "concerning" incident.
Chief Superintendent Steve Heatley said: “We received reports of three stabbings and a person pushed to the floor on Bishopsgate at 9.46am and officers arrived at the scene at 9.51am.
“Three victims were taken by London Ambulance Service to a nearby hospital to be treated. They do not have life-threatening injuries.
“Two suspects are being sought as part of the ongoing investigation related to an attempted phone theft and the incident is not being treated as terror-related.
“Stopping phone thefts and bringing perpetrators to justice is a priority for City of London Police.
“The number of phone snatches is down, due to focused effort including working with colleagues in the Metropolitan Police Service last week to make several arrests.”
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