Photos show the dramatic moment when armed police officers chased and arrested a man on a residential street after a nine-year-old girl was fatally stabbed.
More than a dozen specialists gathered at an address just yards from where schoolgirl Lillia Valutyte died Thursday night in Boston, Lincolnshire.
The man they had planned to speak to in connection with the incident reportedly fled the crime scene and set off a manhunt through the quiet backstreets of the market town.
He was tracked down after a police drone took off, with stunned neighbors and eyewitnesses remembering the climax of the chase.
Neds Mikelionis, 24, ext The sun: ‘Suddenly the street was full of police everywhere.
“Five police cars arrived and at least 20 officers got out, including some armed officers.
“The man they were looking for ran up to them and the police rushed out of the house they’d gone to and jumped into their cars to give chase.”
Detectives confirmed they had made an arrest after armed police ducked into a residential street near a park about 200 yards from the road where the schoolgirl was killed early Thursday night.
Photos show the dramatic moment when armed police officers pursued and arrested a man (pixelated for legal reasons) on a quiet street in the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire after a nine-year-old girl was fatally stabbed
Little Lillia (bottom right) was stabbed to death around 6:20 p.m. on July 28 while allegedly playing in the street with her sister outside an embroidery and screen printing shop run by her Lithuanian mother Lina Savicke in Fountain Lane, Boston.
Detectives have confirmed they made an arrest after armed police broke into a residential street near a park about 200 yards from the road where the schoolgirl was murdered early Thursday evening (pictured at the crime scene this afternoon).
A forensic officer near the Boston crime scene earlier today as a police cordon remains in place after the stabbing at around 6:20 p.m. on Thursday
Little Lillia was stabbed at around 6:20 p.m. on July 28 while allegedly playing in the street with her sister outside an embroidery and screen printing shop run by her Lithuanian mother Lina Savicke in Fountain Lane, Boston.
It is believed that the schoolgirl was playing with her younger sister in the street at the time of the horrific attack, while their mother, Lina Savicke, was working on her tablet while trying to keep an eye on her girls.
The nine-year-old died after sustaining a single stab wound on a quaint high street, just outside a recruitment agency Mrs. Savicke had worked for. Lincolnshire Police declined to comment on whether they believe the attack was related to her role there.
Devastated residents described seeing a discarded toy pram late Thursday at the crime scene, believed to belong to Lilia’s sibling.
The death of the nine-year-old girl, whose family was from Lithuania, has left locals in ‘deep shock’ and the local MP calls for national help to catch her killer
Chief Inspector Parker announced the manhunt by reading a statement to the media at the top of Fountain Lane on Saturday, alongside a growing collection of floral tributes and stuffed animals left by benefactors in memory of Lillia.
Flowers and hugs left in memory of Lillia Valutyte, nine, who was stabbed to death in Boston, Lincolnshire
Detectives confirmed they had made an arrest on Saturday after armed police broke into a residential street near a park, about 200 yards from the road where the schoolgirl was killed early Thursday night.
Shocked onlookers saw three men led away from an area outside a Victorian semi-detached house on Thorold Street, next to Central Park in downtown Boston, Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire Police announced that they had made an arrest on suspicion of murder shortly before 3:50 pm.
Earlier on Saturday, officers chasing Lillia’s killer released images of a bearded man wearing a blue t-shirt and black pants, believed to have been filmed just before the attack.
Footage of the wanted man showed him walking down a cobbled historic street called Wormgate, just around the corner from Fountain Lane where the nine-year-old was stabbed to death on Thursday night.
Police did not disclose the age or gender of the people previously arrested but confirmed that they were not the parents of Lillia known as Lily.
Friends of Lillia lit candles today in memory of the 14th-century St Botolph’s Church, known as the Boston Stum, just 100 yards from the crime scene.
Among them were Tia Mills, nine, and Imani Bradley, nine, who were in her class at Carlton Road Academy elementary school in Boston.
The death of the nine-year-old girl, whose family was from Lithuania, has left locals in ‘deep shock’ and the local MP calls for national help to catch her killer
Shocked onlookers saw three men led away from an area outside a Victorian semi-detached house on Thorold Street, next to Central Park in downtown Boston, Lincolnshire
Officers are believed to have broken open a back door to the home around 2:45 p.m. before cordoning off the street and part of the park.
Lincolnshire Police announced that they had made an arrest on suspicion of murder shortly before 3:50 pm. An officer is pictured in the cordoned off scene in Thorold Street, Boston
Tia who was with her mother said, “She was nice. She loved Harry Potter. She was pretty quiet. She was a good friend. She loved to dance.
Imani who was with her grandmother added: ‘She was just a very sweet girl. She was kind, funny, loving and caring.’
Tia’s mother, who refused to be named, said, “It’s indescribably disgusting. Something needs to be done in this city to ensure that our children have a confident future and can walk the streets. They should feel safe.
“I was devastated and traumatized when I spoke to some of the other parents. Their children are heartbroken. It really shocked the city.’
A prayer written and placed on a table next to the candles said, “Today the people of Boston are in a state of shock and disbelief.
“We find it difficult to accept what has happened to this precious child. As a community, our hearts are broken, and we can’t even begin to understand. The pain and despair the family and their friends will feel.”
Another prayer added: “We feel helpless and incapable in the face of such suffering.”