Screaming children were stabbed in the back in the Southport massacre as they tried to flee from mass murderer Axel Rudakubana.
The 18-year-old was armed with a kitchen knife as he entered the studio in Hart Street just before midday, where 26 children had gathered for a Taylor Swift themed dance class.
Hood up and masked, Rudakubana used the black-handled Cerbera kitchen knife with a 20cm blade to attack children that he grabbed indiscriminately.
Horrifying CCTV footage shows he grabbed the youngster closest to the entrance, then moved through the room systematically stabbing as many children as he could before they could escape him.
A child is seen on CCTV trying to escape the building, before being pulled back in. She is later seen stumbling from the building and collapsing.
As the horrified children run from the studio, Rudakubana chased after them, stabbing them in their backs.
He also knifed Leanne Lucas and businessman Jonathan Hayes, who was working in the office next door and bravely tried to stop the carnage.
Witnesses described young girls running from the studio into the street, bleeding from multiple stab wounds, during the 12 minute attack
Rudakubana has been referred three times to the government’s counter extremist scheme prevent in the years before the massacre.
He had a deep-seated obsession with violence and particularly mass murderer, and after the killings he was found to have documents about Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs on his computer.
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Minutes before he left home to travel to the dance class, it is understood the teenager searched social media for the Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing, which led to a video of the stabbing of the Bishop Emmanuel and five others during a sermon at church in Sydney in April 2024.
On that summer morning last year, on July 29, smiling children - all girls aged between six and 11 - had been dropped off by loving parents at 10am for the start of the two-hour dance class.
The event was organised by instructors Leanne Lucas and Heidi Liddle at The Hart Space in Hart Street, Southport.
During the event Ms Lucas opened a window, and as she did so saw Rudakubana outside, but thought nothing of it.
Unknown to those inside, Rudakubana had set out from home intent on murder.
He was wearing a green hooded sweatshirt with the hood up and a surgical mask, and took a taxi to Hart Street, arriving just before 11.45am.
He travelled in the taxi in silence and when he arrived left the vehicle without paying, prompting the driver to follow him demanding payment, which he ignored.
A worker at a body shop saw what was going on, telling Rudakubana to pay the taxi driver, but he replied: "What are you going to do about it?"
Children were gathered around tables in the studio making bracelets, a life-size model of Taylor Swift standing nearby for the youngsters to have their photos taken alongside.
Then Rudakubana burst inside, and shortly afterwards the screaming started.
Outside, a mother was sitting in her car waiting to collect her daughter, when she heard the noise and saw people running from the building.
She managed to grab her daughter and get into her vehicle, along with three other children. One of them had a bleeding injury to the chest, nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.
She collapsed inside of the vehicle from the injury and died in hospital the next day.
Police Sergeant Gillespie was the first officer on scene, arriving at 11.57am to find Rudakubana, holding the large, bloodied kitchen knife, which he dropped when ordered to do so.
A member of the public, Joel Verite, followed police into the building, picking up Bebe King and carrying her out. She was aged six.
In the studio itself, Sgt Gillespie found the body of Elsie Dot Stancombe, lying on her back on the floor, covered in blood, suffering severe injuries. It was obvious she had died. She was aged seven.
Soon afterwards Heidi Liddle and a little girl she protected were found hiding in a toilet.
Crying with fear and relief, they are escorted from the building.
At 11.59am the defendant was arrested, initially on suspicion of attempted murder and soon afterwards, at 12.02pm on suspicion of murder.
At Liverpool crown court on Monday, Rudakubana was supposed to stand trial for three murders, ten attempted murders, possession of the kitchen knife, possession of an Al Qaeda terror manual, and producing homemade ricin.
But in a shock twist, he pleaded guilty to all 16 charges.
He will now be jailed for life on Thursday, while the government has launched an inquiry into whether Rudakubana could have been stopped before the knife attack.
