This is the horrific moment a suspected chemical attacker mows his car into a mother before slamming a young girl onto the ground during a ‘targeted’ onslaught that left the woman and her three-year-old daughter with ‘life-changing injuries’.
Disturbing CCTV shows the man running towards the driver’s door and getting inside as the woman, 31, and her child stand in front of it with their hands on their faces. The man drives the car at the woman and hits her before getting out.
He then opens the back door and appears to pull the woman’s other young daughter out and violently throwing her to the ground ‘like he was in a wrestling ring’. At some point the man threw an alkaline substance at the mother and both daughters.
Horrified onlookers described how the woman’s skin ‘turned black’ and her face was ‘stripped off’ as she screamed ‘I can’t see, I can’t see’ after being doused with the alkaline chemical next to Clapham Common in south London at 7.25pm last night.
The mother and her three-year-old daughter are now in hospital with potentially life-changing injuries. Her other daughter, eight, was also injured and is being treated by doctors for less serious burns. Police say they were known to their attacker.
Three women – two in their 30s and one in her 50s – were also taken to hospital and treated for minor burns injuries after rushing to help, as were five police officers. All have now been discharged. A man in his 50s was treated at the scene.
A horrified witness said the mother had been in a car with the man and her two children. The pair left the vehicle and began fighting before the man returned to the car and allegedly attempted to run the woman over.
‘There was a little baby girl banging on the door on the man’s side, the lady was crying screaming ”my eyes, police”,’ the witness told The Sun. ‘He opened the door, took out the baby and banged her against the ground twice, I’m talking hard bang.’
Bus driver Shannon Christi, 35, said she heard a bang and someone shouting for help in the street outside her flat. She told MailOnline: ‘I ran outside and saw this guy picking a little girl up and throwing her on the floor again and again.’
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This is the chilling moment a suspected chemical attacker rams a car at a mother before taking a child out of a car and slamming her to the floor
The disturbing footage shows a man running towards the driver’s door and getting inside before driving the white car into a woman as members of the member rush to her aid
Photos show an abandoned white Hyundai i20 hatchback abandoned with its doors open on the street where homes sell for as much as £3million
Ms Christi said she took the girl into her house to look after her.
‘I then saw the mum walking down the street shouting ”I can’t see, I can’t see”,’ she said. ‘So I called my partner to get some water. Staff at the hospital then came round to help and started dousing her in water.
‘At that point my skin started to tingle. Me and the little girl went into the block to wash our eyes and faces with water. I think what happened was she got it on her jacket when she fell on the floor and then it transferred it to me.’
Ms Christi said staff took the toddler into the Clapham South Belvedere Hotel before going to wash her own arms and face. The attacker tried to escape in the car but crashed into a stationary vehicle before making off on foot.
‘The man, who was dressed all in black, ran straight towards Balham and my partner chased him but he was wearing slippers,’ Ms Christi said. ‘I couldn’t really focus as I was looking after the girl, who just kept crying.’
One witness who threw water over the family as the thug fled the scene said they had seen the woman ‘arguing’ with a man before the vile attack.
The three victims remain in hospital this morning with one woman telling MailOnline she saw a child with a burn mark under her eye.
They were among 12 people injured, with 11 needing hospital treatment.
The mother and her children were first taken to the Clapham South Belvedere hotel last night where residents at the property said they were doused by police and ambulance staff.
One woman told MailOnline she saw a child with a burn mark under her eye while another man, also staying at the hotel, said he heard screams while the woman was taken to the toilets by staff.
The three victims are among nine injured as eight have been rushed to hospital after the horror incident in south London , police said
Forensics at the scene take picture of the location of the attack close to Clapham Common
A member of the local resident’s association believes the woman was living at the Belvedere Hotel.
‘As I understand it, it was a domestic situation,’ said the local woman, who did not wish to be named. ‘She was a resident at the hotel.’
Superintendent Gabriel Cameron, a senior officer in Lambeth, said: ‘We believe the man and woman are known to each other.
‘Our investigation is in its early stages and we are working to establish why this awful incident has happened.
‘Officers from across the Met are working with partner agencies and forces to locate and arrest the man.
‘While this appears to be a targeted attack, he is a dangerous individual and we urgently need to find him.
‘We will release more information about him as soon as we can.’
The Met praised the efforts of the public for coming to the aid of the family injured in the attack.
Mr Cameron said: ‘All these members of the public and my officers deserve enormous recognition and praise for coming to the aid of this woman and children in what must have been a terrifying scenario.
‘We will provide them with all the support we can.
‘I also want to commend nearby hotel staff after victims and officers sought refuge and water there following the incident.’
The car appears to have crashed into other parked vehicles as it came to a stop on the residential road
Forensics were seen closely examining a silver thermal carry-cup, which was located next to a bin
Two scientists could be seen crowding around the mug, which appeared to have an evidence marker
A mark appeared to have been left on the car’s window, while the windscreen had been shattered
A police cordon has now been lifted with no officers at the scene. A clinical waste bag has been left strewn outside of the home in the leafy street, where properties sell for up to £3million.
Meanwhile a section of the road on Lessar Avenue remains damp from where officers are thought to have washed down the area.
One woman who lives nearby to the scene said she heard a ‘loud bang’ and when she came outside saw police.
‘I heard a loud bang,’ she told MailOnline. When I went out the house there were police everywhere and I couldn’t get out of my house at all.’
Another witness described the mother’s horrific injuries.
‘Her lips were completely black,’ he told BBC Breakfast. ‘Her face look really burnt, like stripped off basically.’
Forensics teams at the scene could be seen inspecting a coffee cup which may have been used to throw the alkaline substance.
A witness who said he had tried to clean the chemical from the woman’s face told Sky News: ‘It was horrific. First a man grabbed his kid – a girl aged two or three from a white car.
‘He threw her onto the floor – twice! It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. The man then threw something at the woman. She was screaming, ”My eyes! My eyes!”
‘I then ran into my house, grabbed a water bottle and threw water on her eyes. Her lips were black. Her skin looked burnt.’
Forensics examined the interior of the stricken car, while a mark had been left on the window
Evidence could be seen bagged up by police next to the scene of the attack
The scene on the residential south London street has been cordoned off as forensics scour the road
The stricken car appears to have a shattered windscreen and pictures show an abandoned bobble hat lying close by
Officers have launched an investigation after a suspected corrosive substance was thrown at the trio in Lessar Avenue, Clapham South
Three other people – who are all adults – have also been rushed to hospitals after sustaining injuries while it is believed they were rushing to the family’s aid
Officers remain at the crime scene as they investigate the suspected south London chemical attack
Photos from the scene show an abandoned white Hyundai i20 hatchback with its doors open on the street.
The stricken car appears to have a shattered windscreen and pictures show an abandoned hat lying close by.
Police in England and Wales recorded 472 violent and robbery offences involving a corrosive substance in the year to March 2023, the latest available figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
There were 525 recorded in the previous 12-month period.
The data is published annually and only dates back to March 2020, when current records began.
The Home Office started collecting data on some offences involving corrosive substances from April 2019 as part of a government pledge to tackle such attacks.
The figures to March 2023 exclude any reports that may have been made to Devon and Cornwall Police because the force has been unable to supply data due to problems with a new computer system.
It is believed all but the first three victims were ‘inadvertently’ injured while rushing to the family’s aid
The attacker fled the scene after the incident, with Metropolitan Police hunting the assailant
Of the nine people treated by the London Ambulance Service, five were taken to a major trauma centre and three were taken to a local hospital
A large police presence can be seen on the road, which sits directly next to Clapham Common. Fire engines and ambulances were also on the scene
