A man who stopped to help at the scene of the Southport stabbings described “locking eyes” with the attacker and says seeing the injured children will “probably stay with me for the rest of my life”.
Speaking for the first time since it happened, Joel Verite detailed Monday’s tragedy moment by moment, first being met by a horrific scene, with both adults and children covered in blood.
He then recalls entering the building to find the knifeman at the top of the stairs.
All three children killed in attack named; follow Southport latest
“I look up and there’s this guy with a knife,” he told Sky News correspondent Shingi Mararike.
“I just wanted to hurt him so bad. But I was scared for myself and I wanted to help people.”
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Bebe King.
Pic: Merseyside Police
Yoga teacher Leanne Lucas who was leading the holiday club and was injured
‘He’s killing kids over there’
The window cleaner was on his lunchbreak on Monday when his colleague noticed something unfolding outside The Hart Space, where the suspect launched a ferocious attack on young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.
Three children have died, eight others injured and two adults were hurt. The children killed have now been named as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
Yoga instructor Leanne Lucas, who was leading the Taylor Swift-themed workshop with her colleague Heidi Barlow, was among the injured and is in hospital, a relative has told Sky News.
Describing what he saw, Mr Verite, a former rugby league player for Wigan and Salford, said: “We were just listening to music in our own world, then he [his colleague] slammed on the brakes and all I can see from my side is a girl hanging from the side of her car.
“I jumped out the car and I just asked her if she was alright. She just looked in complete shock and had blood all over her body.
“She just screamed at me: ‘He’s killing kids over there, he’s killing kids over there’.”
Mr Verite says he and his colleague realised the woman was injured and she collapsed on the ground.
Pic:PA
Read more:
Witnesses describe stabbings
What we know so far
He took the phone from her to speak to police and ran in the direction she was pointing in.
When he reached the car park outside the venue in Hart Street, he came across another woman in a car with “four or five” injured children in the back.
“It was like a scene from a disaster film,” he said. “The woman just looked at me and said: ‘I just want to make sure these kids are safe’.”
Emergency services at the scene on Hart Street, Southport.
@ChauffeurWest/PA
Mr Verite says he helped with one of the injured children before running towards the building entrance.
“I wanted to get her to safety but I didn’t know where was safe. I was screaming for an ambulance. I wanted a professional to be there to know what to do.”
After leaving the injured child with his colleague, he was approached by someone else, he says.
“Someone pointed [towards the building] and said ‘he’s in there’.
Pic: PA
‘All I saw was a knife’
Mr Verite ran inside and had taken a few steps up a staircase when he saw the attacker.
“I opened the door and there’s a stairway. I shouted hello to see if anyone was there. I look up and there’s this guy with a knife.
“Maybe he didn’t realise I was going to be in there, but we locked eyes and then he scurried off.”
Describing how seeing the suspect made him feel, he added: “All I saw was a knife and I thought: ‘There are more people in there,’ and I just wanted to hurt him so bad.
“But I was scared for myself and I wanted to help people. So I came outside and I was screaming because I knew where he was.”
Mr Verite says he smashed the door to prevent the suspect escaping before returning to the car park.
“I came outside and I’m hectic now because I’ve seen the guy. I’m screaming because I knew where he was,” he recalled.
Locals leave flowers at the police cordon. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
‘Felt like a lifetime’
“I was screaming ‘where’s the police, where’s the police?’.”
He thinks it was around 10 minutes before any officers arrived, adding that it “felt like a lifetime”.
The Hart Space in Hart Street where the attack took place. Pic: Google
According to Mr Verite, the first officer who arrived instructed him to wait for backup before entering the dance studio because he was only armed with a baton.
But when another arrived with a taser, they all went back inside, where he says the attacker was apprehended.
Asked how he feels in the aftermath, he told Sky News: “I’m a new dad and that was one of the hardest things for me – seeing these children in that position.
“These children weren’t crying – they were absolutely terrified – if that makes sense.
“Their parents turn up in absolute hysterics and they scream and cry that they want to go into the building, but they’re not allowed to because it’s a crime scene.
“They ask me questions wanting to know information. It’s heartbreaking.
“It made me feel disgusted and really upset for all the parents and all the children who had to go through that yesterday.
“I’m not going to label myself a hero. I’m happy that I’ve done what I’ve done, and I’m happy that I’ve at least managed to save at least one life – if not more.”