‘You second-guess your safety:’ Leeds students react to Headingley crossbow attack

Leeds students have spoken out about how they feel living in Headingley, after an attack involving a crossbow in the area left two women seriously injured.

With the police cordon lifted on Sunday evening (27th April), Otley Road, home to the Otley Run pub crawl, was reopened.

The incident has caused shock across the community, just days before the summer term starts for many universities in Leeds.

Meghan, 19, a first-year student living in Lupton, a University of Leeds accommodation in the busy Headingley area, told The Leeds Tab: “It’s really shaken everyone up. It’s all everyone’s talking about.

“Luckily, we were in town on Saturday but we knew friends doing the Otley Run, so you just can’t stop thinking, like, it could’ve been them. It’s so awful.”

Asked whether she and her friends feel safe living in Lupton now, Meghan said: “Even though it’s scary how close it was, I think we do still feel safe. I mean, we are out today. It hasn’t made us lock ourselves in our rooms.”

However, the first-year student did say she feels as though there is a “a really weird atmosphere” in the area at the moment.

She continued: “We feel so horrible for those women that did get attacked. I think you just second-guess your safety more generally.

“You wonder how someone can leave their house for a fun time with friends and end up in hospital. Or be scarred mentally from witnessing it.

“We shouldn’t live in a world like that.”

Fin, 23, a fourth-year chemical engineering student at the University of Leeds, goes to a gym in Headingley. The student was not deterred from getting a workout in today, and will continue to use his membership.

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However, he did add that “it’s made a high street that normally feels safe into a bit of a scary environment.”

Dillon, 23, a business student, agreed: “It’s really horrible news, but I also don’t think it’ll affect the Otley Run’s long-standing reputation with students.”

Danielle, a 23-year-old international development student, thinks that the attack was definitely an “isolated incident”, so she isn’t feeling unsafe in Leeds.

However, she did express alarm about the social media posts police are investigating that allegedly outline plans to undertake the attack.

One of the posts appears to identify students as targets of a “killing spree” and refers to “misogynistic rage” and “terrorism” as motives.

Danielle said: “I think the rise of that whole culture is what I find particularly concerning. It feels like a scary time to be a woman and I worry about radicalisation online and what that means for young people.”

The prime suspect of the attack, Owen Lawrence, died from a self-inflicted injury in hospital today (29th April).

Lawrence, 38, was being investigated by counter terrorism police after being seen in Headingley with potential weapons.

The victims, aged 19 and 31, were both hospitalised following the attack . One of the women has since been discharged, whilst the second underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries. She is now in a stable condition.

Headingley Labour councillor Jonathan Pyror told the BBC he thinks safety around the Otley Run “needs looking at” following the incident.

Jonathan, who is also deputy leader of Leeds City Council, said he is pleased the attack “wasn’t worse than it was”. “It’s always so busy in Headingley on an afternoon and there are lots of families here, too. It’s a real hub.”

He added that the council is now looking at ways to make Headingley and the Otley Run route safer.

“It’s not a formal event, it’s just a pub crawl – but there is always a huge amount of people,” he explained.

“But there aren’t the same security measures you would get at a football match or Leeds Carnival. That’s something we need to look at.”

Featured image via TikTok