Suspect killed, six injured in Glasgow incident

Scottish police on Friday said armed officers shot dead a man after a suspected stabbing in Glasgow left six others injured, including one of their colleagues.

"The individual who was shot by armed police has died," said Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson, of Police Scotland, in a statement.

"Six other people are in hospital for treatment to their injuries, including a police officer, who is in a critical but stable condition."

The incident happened in and around a Park Inn hotel on West George Street, in the heart of the city. Several roads were closed and the surrounding area was cordoned off.

Positive Action in Housing, a homelessness and human rights charity, tweeted that the hotel was being used to house asylum seekers during the coronavirus outbreak.

Johnson said the suspect shot by police was male but did not stay how the officer was injured, after reports he was stabbed.

The incident, which Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called "truly dreadful", was "contained" and there was no risk to the general public, he added.

The incident comes less than a week after three people were stabbed to death in a park in Reading, southeast England, that police were treating as terror-related.

A 25-year-old man widely said to be a Libyan asylum seeker was arrested in connection with the random stabbing that killed three friends.

UK interior minister Priti Patel called the situation in Scotland "deeply alarming" while Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply saddened by the terrible incident".

"My thoughts are with all the victims and their families," he tweeted.

- Blood on the ground -

Videos shared on social media showed armed police in plain clothes on West George Street.

Television footage also appeared to show several people being frogmarched out of the hotel, with their hands above their heads.

One witness quoted by the domestic Press Association news agency said he saw one man lying on the ground without shoes, and someone was holding his side.

"I don't know if it was a bullet wound, a stab wound, or what it was," said Craig Milroy, who works in an office nearby.

He said the man was one of four people he saw taken away by paramedics.

"After that we saw commotion, ambulances further up and we saw armed police all running into the hotel next to the Society Room (pub)," the witness said.

"We were still standing outside, after that the police all came down, the riot police and triage team told us to go back in and lock the door."

Another witness, who gave her name as Louisa, told Sky News television she saw "people being treated with blood on the ground".

"I saw people running out of the hotel with the police shouting, 'put your hands up, put your hands up, come out'," she added.

"There were police cars, ambulances all over the street and they cordoned it off.

"Police were shouting to people in other buildings near the Park Inn hotel to stay inside and not come into the street."

© 2020 AFP