Armed police have been deployed to an estate in Eston, Middlesbrough, after a 39-year-old man was stabbed inside a house, as detectives continue to investigate a series of serious incidents across the area.
Cleveland Police said officers were called to Sedgemoor Road in Eston at around midday following an assault involving a bladed weapon.
The 39-year-old victim is receiving medical treatment.
Armed officers were seen in the Bankfields estate, with police activity around the road and a nearby football pitch.
No arrests have been made in connection with the stabbing and enquiries are continuing.
A Cleveland Police spokesperson said: “A 39-year-old man is receiving treatment following an assault involving a bladed weapon in an address on Sedgemoor Road in Eston around midday today.
“No arrests have been made at this time, however, enquiries are ongoing into the incident.”
Car repeatedly rammed into wall
The stabbing follows another incident shortly after midnight when police received reports of a vehicle repeatedly crashing into a wall on Steele Crescent, South Bank.
The property was empty and nobody was injured.
Residents woke to find bricks and damaged fencing scattered across the area. Police are investigating and have said they are keeping an open mind about whether the incident is connected to other recent violence.
It follows an earlier incident in which a stolen vehicle was driven into a house before a Volkswagen Passat carrying five young men was later involved in the catastrophic A66 collision.
Police pursued the Passat for several minutes before abandoning the pursuit after it entered the A66 travelling in the wrong direction.
Moments later, the Passat collided head-on with a marked police vehicle travelling in the correct direction.
Seven people died.
Police officers PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed alongside five occupants of the Passat: Michael Cahill, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Worthy, 17, Jacob Matusiak, 23, and Makai Saddington, 18.
Police have previously said the marked vehicle carrying PC Blades and PC Clough was not the police vehicle involved in the earlier pursuit.
Two killed in Middlesbrough house fire
The area was then rocked by a fatal house fire in Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, where seven-year-old Valentina Foster and her aunt Natalie McDonald, 34, died.
Emergency services were called at around 5.23am.
Natalie’s 15-year-old daughter and another teenager escaped through an upstairs window, while a 48-year-old woman was rescued and remains critically ill. Other occupants were also injured.
Two men, aged 23 and 31, have been arrested on suspicion of murder as detectives investigate the cause of the fire.
Armed officers have also been deployed around the fire-damaged property.
Police examining possible organised crime links
Cleveland Police is investigating whether any of the recent incidents are connected to wider serious or organised crime.
However, police have not established that the stabbing, fire, vehicle rammings and fatal A66 collision are all part of a gang feud, and any such connection remains under investigation.
Redcar and Cleveland Local Policing Commander Superintendent Emily Harrison has previously said officers “cannot rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time.”
Seventeen people, aged between 16 and 61, have reportedly been arrested as part of the wider police investigation, with several detained on suspicion of offences linked to organised crime.
The recent violence has prompted calls for reassurance and increased policing in affected communities.
Councillor Alec Brown has called for an urgent community safety briefing, saying residents “deserve to feel safe in their own homes”.
Police enquiries into the latest stabbing and the other incidents remain ongoing.
