High visibility police to patrol 'war zone' Stepps streets "for as long as necessary" after knife attack

Witnesses have described explosions, flames as high as the houses, and a blood-covered man walking from the scene, captured on video at the time of the attack at 1.30pm on Sunday.

The attackers who were in a Ford Transit van that was stolen from Ruchazie, in the north east of Glasgow the previous day, deliberately drove at the parked van, police say.

The three men in the parked van, aged 47, 45 and 28 years, managed to get out of the vehicle but were chased and then attacked with bladed weapons by the attacking trio. Both vans were also deliberately set alight.

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All victims were rushed to Glasgow Royal Infirmary where the 47-year-old and a 28-year-old were treated and have been released. A 45-year-old man remains in hospital where staff describe his condition as stable.

Police believe that the attackers made off from the area in two waiting vehicles - a black 4x4 and a white saloon car - which are believed to have been getaway cars.

A motive for the attack has not yet been established, but police said that the believe the attackers knew their victims who were specifically targeted.

For Detective Inspector David Reilly who is leading the investigation, Monday was his first day based at the Coatbridge police office, and he admitted it is a tough baptism.

Uniform patrols were seen on Monday both in Cardowan and nearby Stepps and DI Reilly said plain clothes officers had also been brought in saying it is "understandable" that local people found the incident alarming.

Officers would remain in the area "for as long as necessary". 

Read more: Hunt for knife wielding thugs who committed "outrageous" attack on Stepps trio

"I would reassure people that we will do our utmost to bring the persons responsible to justice as soon as possible," he said speaking just 100 feet from the spot when the vans were ablaze.

"We will keep a patrol of uniformed and plain clothes officers in the area for the foreseeable future. 

"I would reassure the public that this is being treated very very seriously."

Read more: WATCH - Three men in stable condition in hospital in "war-zone" attack in Stepps, Glasgow

He added: "This is a horrendous attack. At 1.30pm it was a sunny day there were a lot of people out on the street, there were kids out on the street and it would have been quite easy for an innocent member of the public to have been involved in this incident and Police Scotland will not tolerate any such behaviour.

"The men that carried out this attack had no respect for members of the public or children that may have been in the street at the time."

He said the response for information from the local community had been "very good" but added: "We can never have enough information and we would encourage them to come forward, it doesn't matter how small they think the piece of information is."

On Monday afternoon the only evidence of the burning vans was the extensive black charring of the road. One local whose family have lived in the are for five generations said they were the sort of scenes she only normally sees on TV.

"The flames were up at roof height and there was black billowing smoke. I just heard the bang and I just dialled 999 as soon as I saw the smoke.

"It's a nice wee local area here. This sort of thing doesn't happen here. You get more action from the wildlife down there (pointing at a nearby field) than you do here.

"I've never seen anything like it up here, never. Maybe if I was watching The Bill or something like that."

Another local described the scenes as "like a war zone" and one resident said he saw a boy sitting in an ambulance "covered in blood"

Police say they are continuing to pore over CCTV footage from the scene. Video footage of a man, appearing to be bleeding, walking in front of two vans set alight in the streets has also been brought to detectives' attention. The identity of the man in the video is not known.

The first suspect is described as white, 6ft and wearing black hooded top with the hood up. The second man is described as white, blond hair, and wearing dark coloured trousers and a dark hooded top. The third suspect was white, 5ft 4in, slim, wearing all dark clothing, a hooded top and dark baseball cap.