UK police search for motive in deadly attack at Taylor Swift-themed event, as musician says she’s ‘in shock’

(LONDON) — Police investigating the deadly attack on a children’s music event in a seaside town of Southport, United Kingdom, said they would interview the 17-year-old suspect as they searched for a motive.

“The investigation is in its early stages and the motivation for the incident remains unclear,” Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said on Monday.

Officers responded just before noon local time to reports of a stabbing at a property on Hart Street in Southport, a seaside town about 20 miles north of Liverpool, according to Merseyside Police.

Two children were killed and nine others were injured in a stabbing attack at an event at a dance school in the seaside town, police said. Six of the wounded children were in critical condition, along with two adults, who were also stabbed, police said.

“We believe that the adults who were injured were bravely trying to protect the children who were being attacked,” Kennedy said Monday.

Merseyside Police said the children were attending a Taylor Swift-themed event at a dance school. A flyer for the two-hour event called it a “Taylor Swift Yoga and Dance Workshop.” The event was for children between 6 and 11 years old, according to post on the organizer’s Instagram.

The “horror” of the attack was “washing over me continuously,” Swift said in a post on Instagram. She said she was “completely in shock.”

“The loss of life and innocent, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families and first responders,” she said. These were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to even convey my sympathies to these families.”

A 17-year-old boy from Banks, a coastal village in Lancashire, just outside Southport, was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, police said.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was born in Cardiff, Wales, police said.

The “full circumstances” were still being investigated, police said, adding that the attack wasn’t being investigated as terror-related. Police were not searching for additional suspects, they said.