Traverse City, Michigan: Eleven people have been stabbed at a Walmart in Traverse City on, with six critically injured, in what a Michigan sheriff said appeared to be a random act. A suspect was in custody, authorities said.
About 4.45pm on Saturday (Sunday morning AEST), a 42-year-old man entered the store and used a folding knife to stab 11 people, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media. A sheriff’s deputy arrived within minutes and took the man into custody, and people in the store also helped apprehend the suspect and treat victims, the sheriff’s office said.
Walmart employees and customers comfort each other after the stabbing.Credit: Traverse City Record-Eagle/AP
The victims’ ages weren’t immediately released.
“Eleven is 11 too many, but thank God it wasn’t more,” Sheriff Michael Shea told reporters.
Emergency vehicles and uniformed first responders gathered in the parking lot of the shopping centre that houses several other retail stores. Authorities also were seen interviewing employees, still wearing blue uniform vests and name tags, as the response gave way to an investigation.
Tiffany DeFell, 36, who lives in Honor, about 40 kilometres from Traverse City, said she was in the store’s parking lot when she saw chaos erupt around her.
Police at the scene of the stabbing on Saturay night.Credit: AP
“It was really scary. Me and my sister were just freaking out,” she said. “This is something you see out of the movies. It’s not what you expect to see where you’re living.”
Munson Healthcare said via social media that 11 people were being treated at the region’s largest hospital in northern Michigan. Spokesperson Megan Brown said all were stabbing victims. Six people were in a critical condition and five were in a serious condition late on Saturday, she said.
