Child knife deaths plunge sleepy UK town into 'sadness and misery'

"You just feel such a helplessness and a sadness," said David Jenkins as he paid tribute to the child victims of a knife attack in northern England that has left the country in disbelief.

A stream of well-wishers on Tuesday left flowers, dolls, cards, balloons and stuffed toys at the growing shrine in Southport, close to the events space studio where Monday's stabbing spree took place.

Girls aged nine, six and seven died and another five children and two adults were left with critical injuries.

While the sun beat down on the leafy, residential street in the seaside town near Liverpool where the attack occurred, the mood of those gathered was one of darkness.

"Last night the streets were so quiet, you could taste the sadness and the misery of it all," Jenkins, a 52-year-old writer, told AFP.

"Now it's just the aftermath and the shock of the fact that we're all having to come to terms with it."

Hundreds of people held a minute's silence for victims at a vigil in the town, in a show of support for all those affected by the tragedy.

The crowd, some carrying purple and pink balloons, stood in the early evening sunshine in front of the clock tower of the grand Atkinson arts centre next to the town hall.

Police have arrested a 17-year-old youth over the attack, which targeted a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class for children on their summer holiday from school.

The force has said the attack was not terror related, but Jenkins argued that "we need to know who it was and the motivation... people want answers".

One of the biggest questions was how it could happen in the sleepy town.

"It's numbness really, it's just, it can't happen here. And it has," said Sue Endacott, a 59-year-old holistic therapist who lives around the corner from the scene of the attack.

"A couple of years ago, my son was in Manchester, and witnessed the Manchester Arena bombing. And again, I said, 'No, it can't happen'. Innocent children... and it's horrible."

- 'Pull together' -

Bar worker Connor Hodge, 24, also declared himself "in shock" that the deaths could happen "so close to home". He predicted the community would rally around.

"If you look around, the amount of flowers, amount of people (who have) come to support the police bringing water and that... it's only going to bring people stronger," he said.

"It's such a tight, tight knit community. Everyone's going to pull together."

One of those pitching in was Nigel Fawcett-Jones, a chaplain with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, who joined with a local church to provide support.

Standing at the police line at the end of Hart Street, Fawcett-Jones said the community felt "shock, disbelief and the frustration of waiting for the news of the others that are injured".

"All those emotions, together, are really challenging for people to work through," he said.

In nearby Banks, a village of 4,000 people on the outskirts of Southport, police closed off a quiet road where the suspect was reported to have lived, an AFP reporter saw.

At least seven police officers and four police vans were stationed inside the street. The nearby fish and chip shop, church and social club were all closed.

Locals did not want to talk about the stabbing.

"What can you say? It's a tragedy. No one around here knows anything" about the suspect, said one man who refused to give his name.

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