A 35-year-old man was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of injuring two teenagers on Monday outside a school in London by dousing them with a substance believed to be acid, police said.
A 14-year-old girl remains hospitalized with “potentially irreversible” injuries. The 16-year-old boy, less severely affected, was able to leave the hospital.
Monday afternoon, both were “approached in front of the school by a lone man who sprayed them with a substance before fleeing,” recalled Scott Ware, the head of the Metropolitan Police in charge of the investigation.
After launching “a manhunt”, the police arrested an individual Thursday morning. This 35-year-old man, “suspected of causing serious bodily harm”, is still in police custody.
A third person, a 27-year-old woman working for the school, was slightly injured while coming to the aid of the two teenagers.
The incident occurred outside the middle school “after school time when students and staff leave the building,” according to the principal of Westminster Academy, Numera Anwar.
London police said they were maintaining “a visible presence” around the school, highlighting the “concern” caused by this attack.
According to official figures, 710 attacks using corrosive substances were recorded in 2022 in England and Wales. They reached a peak in 2017 (949), leading the authorities to strengthen controls on the sale and possession of these substances.
In February, a woman and her two daughters were sprayed with a “corrosive substance” in south London. The alleged attacker fled and his body was found several days later in the Thames.
