Mass stabbing
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the verb 'stab' as an action that propels a pointed weapon with the intention of harm or murder.
Based on a publication by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 'knife-enabled crime' is an incident where harm is threatened or caused with the use of bladed weapons.
Based on section 2 of the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012 of the United States of America, which was signed into law and published by the US Congress on 13 January 2013, 'mass killing' is an individual occasion with three or more people murdered.
[2] Another factor that may have led to knife crimes and violence among young people is the social and cultural norms in the environment they are exposed to.
[2] Spreading of religious extremism by terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS), may be another cause of mass stabbings.
[3] Both terrorist groups used publications such as Dabiq of IS and Inspire of al-Qaeda to propagate the ideologies of the organisations and demonize their opponents, particularly the western democracy and their values.
[3] The terrorist organisations have encouraged their followers to launch attacks with knives because it is a cheap and easy method which is difficult to be detected by authorities yet capable of causing great harm to the general public.
[2] Studies in Diadema, Brazil has shown that homicides were reduced by 44% in the course of three years with the introduction of a law that restricts trading hours for alcoholic products.
A WHO report states that creating safe learning environment in schools is critical in preventing violence and knife crime among young people.
For example, the Be Safe Project in the United Kingdom educates students about the legal, social and health implications of knife crime.
[20] For example, No Knives, Better Lives, an organisation launched in 2009, works with the Scottish police, schools and volunteers to raise awareness among young people on knife crime prevention.
[20] Gang members were also invited to a meeting with the police, health professionals, victims and social service workers where they discussed the implications of knife crime and violence.
[2] Some scholars and experts believe that knife crime, mass stabbing and terrorist attacks have caused a surge in Islamophobia.
[4] Recent research on pedestrian dynamics during mass stabbing incidents offers practical guidelines to enhance public safety.
Through experiments in various scenarios, results showed that setting up multiple exits helps avoid congestion, and clear pathways ensure evacuees can better evade attackers.
Mamoru Takuma, a 37-year-old ex-convict with a history of mentally disturbed and anti-social behavior, stabbed eight students to death and seriously wounded fifteen others in a knife attack that lasted several minutes.
[34][35][36] At 2:20 am on 26 July 2016, a man launched a knife attack at a center for the disabled people at Sagamihara, a town west of Tokyo, Japan.
A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then crashed on Borough High Street, just south of the River Thames.
The van's three occupants then ran to the nearby Borough Market area and began stabbing people in and around restaurants and pubs.
The attacker was reported as being 45-year-old Mickaël Harpon, an IT specialist who worked in the intelligence unit of the police headquarters for the last 16 years and held a security clearance, giving him access to restricted information like the watchlist of terror suspects, addresses of police officers and data on French citizens and their families who had returned after they fought in the Syrian Civil War.
[52] Both French President Emmanuel Macron and the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said it was a terrorist attack attributed to Islamic extremism.
[53][54] On September 4, 2022, 29 people were stabbed, 11 of whom were killed, in at least thirteen locations in the James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
[61] On December 30, a suspect, 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger, was arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary.
[62][63] On 2 December 2023, a French man of Iranian origin carried out a knife and hammer attack against three people near Pont de Bir-Hakeim in Paris, France, killing one of them.
[64] On 8 June 2023, a Syrian man injured two adults and four young children at Le Pâquier [fr] city park, Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France, in a mass stabbing attack.
On March 27, 2024, four people were killed and seven others were injured in a mass stabbing in Rockford, Illinois, with the fatalities entailing two men, a woman, and a 15-year-old girl.
A suspect, 22-year-old Christian Ivan Soto, of Rockford, was taken into custody and charged with several counts of first-degree murder and home invasion.
[70] A 18-year-old teenager wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest stabbed 7 people near a mosque in Eskişehir, Turkey before being detained by police.
[citation needed] On 29 July 2024, a mass stabbing targeting children occurred at a dance studio in Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom.
On the evening of 23 August 2024, a mass stabbing took place during a festival celebrating the 650th anniversary of Solingen, Germany, when a man armed with a knife killed three people and injured eight others.
