6 dead from 2 families in UK island knife attack
LONDON (AP) - A Polish man is suspected of killing his wife, their two children, his father-in-law and two family friends in a frenzied stabbing spree, the deadliest crime in memory on the Channel Island of Jersey, police and local residents said Monday.
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Detective Supt. Stewart Gull of Jersey Police said a man, two women and three young children stabbed to death Sunday came from two families, one of them Polish.
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He said the other family was from Jersey. Polish officials said they believed all the victims were of Polish origin.
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A 30-year-old man - a member of the Polish family - has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He was in a hospital Monday after undergoing surgery for knife injuries that witnesses said were self inflicted. Police were waiting to question him.
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Gull said four victims were found inside the Polish family's apartment on a secluded residential street in the island's capital, St. Helier. Two were found outside the building.
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He said it was too early to speculate about a motive for the killings.
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Britain's Press Association news agency identified the victims as his wife, their two children and his wife's father, as well as a family friend and her child.
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Neighbors reported hearing screams before police and ambulances arrived Sunday.
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Bryan Ogesa, who lives in the same apartment building, said he heard screaming and ran outside to see a man with a knife chasing a woman, and another woman lying on the ground.
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"She was responsive, but just mumbling," he said. "That's when the guy started coming towards us. He was mumbling as well."
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Ogesa said he fought the man off with a traffic cone before the attacker turned the knife on himself.
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Another witness, Andre Thorpe, said he later saw police running from the building carrying a small child.
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"When the paramedic came back her shirt was covered in blood," he said.
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Police on the island - a tax haven and holiday destination 14 miles (22 kilometers) off France's Normandy coast - say the crime is the deadliest in living memory.
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Jersey, a 45-square-mile (118-square-kilometer) British Crown dependency with a population of 90,000, had not had a murder since 2004, when a 19-year-old man originally from Northern Ireland tried to rape, then kicked to death, a 35-year-old nurse outside her home. It was the first murder in Jersey since the 1970s.
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Between 3,000 and 5,000 Polish nationals live on Jersey.
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Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur said the crime had "greatly shocked the island's community." He said anyone who needed counseling would receive it.
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"Jersey is a very safe place and events of this terrible nature are very rare," he said.
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