A 35-year-old man has died after being repeatedly stabbed in the stomach and back on a bus in the West Midlands.
The victim – who has not been identified but is from Smethwick – was attacked in front of stunned passengers on the upper deck of the 11A bus as it travelled along Rookery Road in Handsworth, towards Birmingham city centre, on Monday night.
The attacker had only boarded the bus minutes before a row broke out between him and the victim and they exchanged blows.
Detective Superintendent Tom Chisholm said: “There didn’t appear to be much of a build-up to this incident.
“It very quickly became physical and clearly the one male has over-powered the other one and there’s a number of blows been exchanged.
“It would appear he was stabbed in the abdomen and back area, several times.”
It does not appear the pair knew each other, he said.
The attacker fled the scene in the direction of the nearby, busy Soho Road.
A passenger raised the alarm with the driver who stopped the bus immediately and called police at 10.43pm.
Officers and paramedics attended the scene but the victim died a short time later from his injuries.
The weapon thought to have been used in the attack – a folding pocket knife – has not yet been found.
Rookery Road, and parts of Oxhill Road and Greenhill Road, remain closed while forensic teams comb the area and detectives carry out local enquiries and trawl through CCTV.
The attack was witnessed by passengers. One stayed with victim, the other four – three men and a woman – immediately got off the bus.
Mr Chisholm appealed to those people to come forward “as a matter of urgency now” – and to anyone who might know the suspect.
The man being sought over the killing is a black male, about 5ft 9-10ins tall, aged 25 to 30 years with a short dreads-style haircut.
He was wearing a dark baseball cap, a padded jacket, and also had a “nondescript” duffel bag and some “bin-type earphones”.
Mr Chisholm added: “Has someone come home with blood on their clothes, does the description match anyone you know? If the answer is yes, then please call me.”
Anyone with information can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. (synews)
