Crossbow and firearm recovered from city’s Otley Run pub crawl route where two women were seriously injured. Facebook posts appearing to contain plans for a “massacre” are being examined by counter-terrorism police investigating an attack in which two women were seriously injured in Leeds. A man, 38, who suffered a “self-inflicted injury” was arrested and two weapons – a crossbow and a firearm – were recovered from the scene, on the popular Otley Run pub crawl route in the north of the city. He was described on Sunday as a “key suspect” by police who said he remained in hospital in a critical condition. One of the two women – who are aged 19 and 31 – has been discharged from hospital, but the other underwent surgery after suffering life-threatening injuries and is in a stable condition. Police also said they were aware of video being circulated on social media, a reference to footage which appeared to have been taken from a passing car and shows a black-clad man carrying an implement and with a carry case slung over his shoulder. (…) Counter-terror police are examining a number of Facebook posts – including one which appeared to include plans for a “mass-murder” attack – to determine if they are linked to the attacker or the incident. The post appeared before the attack on a Facebook account that indicated far-right sympathies as well as reflecting the “mixed ideology” that has increasingly been on the radar of counter-terrorism police. The posts listed as “targets” students, nightclub goers and “neurotypicals”. Reference was made to a “manifesto” written by a man who killed 51 people during shootings at a mosque and Islamic centre in New Zealand in 2019.
vi guardian: Counter-terrorism police examine Facebook ‘massacre’ posts after Leeds attack