Girl, 3, injured in Heathrow Airport ‘pepper spray assault’ | UK | News
A 3-year-old girl was among those treated by ambulance teams after the incident that occurred at Heathrow Airport this morning. Officers were called at 8.11am on Sunday, December 7, to reports that multiple people had been attacked by a group of men in the Terminal 3 multi-storey car park.
Armed officers called to the scene found a number of people allegedly being sprayed with what the Metropolitan Police believed to be a form of pepper spray. One of the 21 patients treated by the London Ambulance service was a three-year-old girl, police said in a statement this afternoon.
While 5 of the injured were hospitalized, it was stated that the injuries were not life-threatening.
A 31-year-old man arrested on suspicion of assault remained in custody Sunday afternoon, police said. Officers said the man was arrested at 8.20am, nine minutes after the report was received.
Footage shared on social media shows a man being handcuffed by an armed police officer while another is searching for him.
In the latest update, Commander Peter Stevens said: “Our team are working quickly today to review CCTV from the area and speak to witnesses at the scene.
“At this stage, it was understood that a woman’s bag was stolen by a group of 4 people who sprayed a substance believed to be pepper gas towards her.
“This incident occurred in a car park elevator and those in the elevator and bystanders were affected by the spray. “Our officers are working to establish the full circumstances of the incident but we believe this is an isolated incident where the people directly involved were known to each other.
“We appreciate that this is a worrying incident and I commend the actions of the emergency services and staff at Heathrow Airport.”
By noon, dozens of passengers were waiting at the terminal’s bus stop for shuttles to the long-term parking lot and other destinations.
A family who did not want to give their name said that they waited at the bus stop for 3 hours after their plane landed around 08:00 in the morning.
Heathrow staff handed out bottled water to waiting passengers on Sunday afternoon.
A Heathrow spokesman said: “Shuttle buses to the long-term car park have been affected by congestion on the roads following an earlier incident which led to the closure of the Central Terminal Area tunnel for safety reasons.
“Buses are now operating normally and we apologize for any inconvenience.”
Rail passengers at Heathrow Terminal 2/3 station also faced long queues due to overcrowding.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 101 quoting CAD 1803 7 DEC.
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