People froze in horror as a man with a knife stormed into a quiet barbershop — just minutes after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed nearby. What followed could have been a warning no one acted on.

In Peterborough, 32-year-old Anthony Williams is accused of a terrifying string of attacks that shook two cities. CCTV shows him entering Ritzy Barbers with a knife, shouting angrily as customers hid at the back of the shop. One man locked himself in the kitchen and began to pray. “It was like the lights were on, but no one was home,” barber Cody Greene recalled.

Police had already been called earlier that evening — after a teenager was stabbed just streets away. Officers never arrived, instead asking staff to upload footage online. Hours later, Williams allegedly launched a knife rampage on a London-bound train, injuring ten more passengers.

Locals now ask whether tragedy could have been prevented. “We did everything right,” said one shaken witness. “If someone had acted sooner, maybe it wouldn’t have happened.”

It’s the kind of story that makes you wonder — how many warning signs go unseen until it’s too late? Sometimes, the smallest missed call can change everything.