Bolton - A girl of seven was stabbed to death by a woman while on a Mother’s Day trip to the park.
The youngster was with her family in Queen’s Park, Bolton, on Sunday when she was randomly attacked by a stranger.
Witnesses saw the schoolgirl being given CPR as two shocked adults, thought to be relatives, stood nearby "covered in blood".
Police said the girl suffered extremely serious injuries, believed to be to her neck, and, despite the best efforts of her family and emergency responders, was pronounced dead a short while later.
The female attacker, aged 30, was immediately apprehended by a member of the public and later arrested on suspicion of murder.
It is thought she may have mental health issues. She was not known to the girl or her relatives.
According to a witness account, around ten police cars and the North West Air Ambulance attended the scene at around 2.30pm.
The 22-acre park, which is a quarter of a mile west of Bolton town centre, was busy – despite Government orders to avoid public gatherings due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Officers cordoned off the park’s two entrances and evacuated those inside. Forensic officers carried out investigations at the scene. Police said the girl was attacked with a knife and described it as every family’s "worst nightmare".
Russ Jackson, assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said the girl’s parents had been left "so distraught and so devastated in an instant," and added: "Words cannot describe how awful this attack is."
He said: "The family were out in the park, enjoying the spring sun when, in a totally unprovoked and random attack, this little girl sustained horrendous injuries and sadly died a short while later. We are working to understand the motive for this completely random and brutal attack. We understand that the woman has some history of mental illness and we are working to understand if this played any part in her motive.
"This is a family’s worst nightmare. The incident is horrendous and I cannot begin to imagine what the family of this little girl are going through. We are determined to quickly understand how this came to happen, leaving a young family so distraught and so devastated in an instant."
Last night, family liaison officers were with the girl’s parents.
Kelly Roscoe posted on Facebook that she had seen "a little girl being given CPR with two adults stood covered in blood’ in the park, and added: ‘Police, ambulance and helicopters everywhere covering the park!!!" Kyra Coop said she watched two police officers ‘running as fast as they could’ across the park, before another youngster told her a girl had been stabbed.
"We were sat on the benches near the railings, close to the big car park and the kids were playing when we saw two police officers running across the park as fast as they could," she said.
"Then we saw the big [air] ambulance hovering over and landing. You know when you see that it is something serious.
"Then a girl ran over and said a little girl had been stabbed. The police started coming round and asking everyone to leave, and that’s what we did. It left us really shaken up. We had to reassure the kids as they were really upset."