- Witness recounts horrific Southport stabbings
- Three children killed, eight injured
- Verite: “Seeing the injured will stay”
Joel Verite, a window cleaner, was on his lunch break on Monday when his colleague spotted something going on outside The Hart Space in Southport, where an attacker killed three children.
A guy who stopped to help at the scene of the Southport stabbings recounted “locking eyes” with the assailant and stated that seeing the injured youngsters will “probably stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Joel Verite, speaking for the first time since the tragedy, described Monday’s events minute by moment, beginning with a horrible scene of blood-covered parents and children.
He then recalls entering the building and discovering the knifeman at the top of the stairs.
“I look up, and there’s this guy with a knife,” he recalled.
I wanted to harm him so much. But I was terrified for myself, and I wanted to help others.
‘He’s slaughtering children over there.’
On Monday, the window cleaner was on his lunch break when a coworker spotted something going on outside The Hart Space, where the suspect unleashed a vicious attack on young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed vacation club.
Three children perished, eight were injured, and two adults were hurt. The children killed have been identified as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
Yoga instructor Leanne Lucas, who was teaching the Taylor Swift-themed workshop with her colleague Heidi Barlow, was among those hurt and remains in the hospital.
Mr. Verite, a former Wigan and Salford rugby league player, described what he witnessed as follows: “We were just listening to music in our world, then he [his colleague] slammed on the brakes, and all I can see from my side is a girl hanging from the side of her car.”
I jumped out of the car and asked her if she was okay. She appeared very shocked and had blood all over her body.
She just yelled at me, ‘He’s killing kids over there, he’s killing kids over there.
Mr Verite claims he and his colleague noticed the woman was hurt, and she collapsed on the ground.
He seized her phone to call the police and ran in the direction she pointed.
When he arrived at the Hart Street car park, he noticed another woman driving a car with “four or five” injured children in the back.
He described it as a scene from a catastrophe film. “The mom simply looked at me and said, ‘I just want to protect these kids.’
Mr Verite claims to have assisted one of the injured youngsters before racing towards the building’s entrance.
I wanted to bring her somewhere secure, but I didn’t know where. I screamed for an ambulance. I wanted a professional to be there, so I knew what to do.
After leaving the injured youngster with his colleague, he claims he was contacted by someone else.
Someone pointed to the building and said, ‘He’s in there.’
All I saw was a knife.
Mr Verite dashed inside and had taken a few steps up a staircase when he spotted the intruder.
I opened the door, and there was a stairway. I screamed hello to see if anyone was nearby. I glance up, and there’s a man with a knife.
Maybe he didn’t understand I would be in there, but we met eyes before he hurried away.
He described how seeing the suspect made him feel, saying: “All I saw was a knife, and I thought, ‘There are more people in there,’ and I just wanted to hurt him so badly.
“But I was terrified, and I wanted to help others. So I rushed outdoors, shouting because I knew where he was.”
Mr Verite claims he shattered the door to prevent the suspect from fleeing before returning to the parking lot.
I went outdoors, and I was agitated because I saw the guy. I’m shouting because I know where he is,” he said.
‘It felt like a lifetime.’
I was screaming, ‘Where’s the cops? Where’s the police?’
He believes it was about 10 minutes before any officers arrived, adding that it “felt like a lifetime.”
According to Mr Verite, the first cop who arrived told him to wait for backup before entering the dancing school because he only had a baton.
But when another arrived with a taser, they all returned inside, where he claims the attacker was caught.
When asked how he thinks about the incident, he said, “I’m a new father, and seeing these children in that situation was one of the most challenging things for me.
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These children were not sobbing; they were afraid if that makes sense.
Their parents arrive in complete hysterics, screaming and crying that they want to enter the building, but they are not allowed since it is a murder scene.
They ask me questions because they want to know information. It is heartbreaking.
It made me disgusted and extremely upset for all of the parents and children who had to go through that yesterday.
I am not going to call myself a hero. I’m glad I did what I did and that I was able to save at least one life, if not more.
