A hero window cleaner attempted to tackle the Southport knife attacker as he unleased a savage attack on young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Monday.
The three victims killed in the mass stabbing in Southport’s Hart Street have been named as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.
Joel Verite, 25, was among the many who rushed to help those injured - before coming face-to-face with the alleged attacker.
He told Sky News: "I look up and there's this guy with a knife. I just wanted to hurt him so bad. But I was scared for myself and I wanted to help people."
Eight others were injured in the attack, with the remaining children are continuing to receive treatment with two remaining in critical care but in a stable condition.
Two adults also remain critically injured, paramedics said.
Describing the horror scene, the former rugby player for Wigan and Salford, told the broadcaster: "We were just listening to music in our own 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 the car and I just asked her if she was alright. She just looked in complete shock and had blood all over her body.
"She just screamed at me: 'He's killing kids over there, he's killing kids over there'."
He took her phone to speak with police before running in the direction of the scene.
When he reached the venue in Hart Street, he saw another woman in a car with "four or five" injured children in the back, he said.
He ran inside ran inside the building when he then saw the attacker, who fled when challenged, while Mr Verite broke a door in a bid to attempt to stop him leaving.
"I opened the door and there's a stairway. I shouted hello to see if anyone was there. I look up and there's this guy with a knife,” he said.
"Maybe he didn't realise I was going to be in there, but we locked eyes and then he scurried off."
Asked how he felt in the aftermath of the tramatic incident, he said: “I'm not going to label myself a hero.
“I'm happy that I've done what I've done, and I'm happy that I've at least managed to save at least one life - if not more."
Mourners gathered on Tuesday evening for a vigil in memory of the three young children killed, as ministers told the House of Commons that a nation was united in grief at the killings.
Police said a 17-year-old from the village of Banks in Lancashire, who was born in Cardiff, has been arrested in connection with the stabbings, who remains in police custody.
