UK Cops Make an Arrest Linked to Concert Attack

The death toll has risen to 22 in what British authorities are calling a "barbaric attack" on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester on Monday night. On Tuesday, police confirmed the arrest of a 23-year-old man in South Manchester in connection to the attack, reports NBC News. Details about him or his alleged role were not immediately disclosed. Police say the attack itself was carried out by a lone male suicide bomber who detonated an improvised explosive device in the foyer of Manchester Arena soon after the American singer left the stage, the BBC reports. Witnesses reported seeing nuts and bolts scattered at the site and described horrific scenes as thousands of young concertgoers, including children separated from their parents, fled in panic, the New York Times reports. Police have confirmed that children are among the dead. The latest developments:

• Frantic parents and friends have been sharing photos of missing loved ones on social media, Reuters reports. Amid the chaos, nearby hotels sheltered dozens of children.

• Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins says forensic investigators are trying to determine whether the attacker had accomplices, the AP reports. He says the attack, which injured more than 50 people, is "the most horrific incident" the city has ever dealt with.
• Prime Minister Theresa May says police are treating the incident as an "appalling terrorist attack," the Telegraph reports. She chaired a meeting of the government's emergency "COBRA" committee Tuesday morning.
• Party leaders have agreed to suspend campaigning for the country's June 8 election, the Guardian reports. "Today the whole country will grieve for the people who have lost their lives," said Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
• Mayor Andy Burnham made an emotional speech Tuesday morning condemning the "evil act" and praising the response of emergency services, the Manchester Evening News reports. He also thanked the city's people, who opened their doors to strangers caught up in the attack. "It will be that spirit of Manchester that prevails and holds us together," he said.
• Witnesses say the attack happened as fans started to leave the concert, many of them holding the pink balloons that had been released at the close of the show moments earlier, USA Today reports. Grande "had just gone behind the curtain and the lights came up when there was this massive bang and a big cloud of smoke," a concertgoer from Sheffield tells the Guardian. "I saw five people with blood all down them." Grande later tweeted that she was "broken" and "so, so sorry."

(More Manchester stories.)