A woman was found beheaded in broad daylight in the back garden of a north London house, according to multiple reports. A 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after police received calls about a stabbing around 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon, according to the UK Independent.
A major police operation was sparked in a busy street by the discovery of the unidentified woman's body outside a house in the area of Edmonton, North London. After finding her collapsed in a back garden, officers pronounced her dead at the scene.
Police said the suspect was Tasered during the arrest by armed officers, some of whom were injured during a struggle. The suspect is currently in hospital being treated for minor injuries suffered when he was arrested, New York Daily News reported.
"On arrival, officers discovered a female collapsed in the area," according to a statement from Scotland Yard. "A man has been detained and remains in custody."
Initially, eyewitnesses contacted police with reports of an armed man attacking an animal, possibly a cat or a dog, with a knife, police said. After finding the suspect walking through back gardens on Nightingale Road, officers attempted distracting the man to prevent him from attacking anyone else while they evacuated people from nearby homes, according to UK MailOnline.
"Officers had to do everything they could to make other people safe and evacuate houses and put their lives on the line to make sure this individual did not cause further harm," Cdr. Simon Letchford said, adding that officers smashed windows to get people out of properties after the man had been "cornered" in a house.
Neighbor Muhammed Yusuf said police knocked on his door and told him to leave the property immediately. "They just said 'You've got to get out of the house.' Of course I was worried," he said.
His son Ahmed, 19, said, "At first there were two police cars, then all of a sudden there were 20. The police said to drop everything. I said 'What's going on?' and they said there's a guy jumping over gardens."
Since the investigation is ongoing, the police declined to provide any more details. However, it remains unclear if the suspect and victim knew each other, BBC's Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw said.
"I can understand why this may cause people concern, however we are confident that we are not looking for anyone else at this stage," Det. Ch. Insp. John Sandlin said, adding that there was no suggestion that the suspect was a terrorist.
"Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related."
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police Commander Simon Letchford said that the dead woman's next of kin had been informed and were being helped by specially trained police officers.
