11 people injured in stabbing spree at a Michigan Walmart, officials say

A man armed with a folding knife went on a stabbing spree at a Walmart near Traverse City, Michigan, on Saturday afternoon, randomly targeting victims, authorities said.

At least 11 people were being treated for injuries at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, said Megan Brown, the chief communications officer for Munson Healthcare, which runs Munson Medical Center.

The hospital was still assessing the victims’ injuries, she said. She did not describe the nature of the injuries.

One person was in custody, the state police said on social media a little after 6 p.m. local time. A motive for the attack was not immediately known.

The man was who was in custody, a Michigan resident, used a “standard folding-style knife” in the attack, Sheriff Michael D. Shea of Grand Traverse County said at a news conference Saturday night.

“Citizen involvement” brought the attack to an end, Shea said, declining to elaborate.

The attack began near the store’s checkout area, and the attacker was detained less than three minutes after police arrived, Shea said.

“Based on the information we have at this time, it was random act,” he said. “The victims were not predetermined.”

A shopper described a scene of mayhem and confusion.

Julia Martell was in the canned vegetables aisle at Walmart when she heard screaming and saw a man with a knife running through the store’s pharmacy area, she said.

As the man moved through the store, he was shoving and stabbing people, she said. Then the man changed course and started running toward her.

She saw the knife in his hand – a knife with a blade about 2 inches long – and ran. The man didn’t follow her and instead turned back toward the store entrance, she said.

“If anything, him not following me kind of scared me more, because then you had no idea where he was,” she said.

Martell, 30, said she saw three people with stab wounds as she evacuated the store, including a man on the floor in the store’s frozen food section. There was “blood everywhere,” she said.

A representative for Walmart could not be immediately reached.

The FBI was responding to help the sheriff’s office, Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, said on social media.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.