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Man Held After London Knife Attack That Killed an American
London Knife Attack Kills Woman and Wounds 5 Other People
(about 2 hours later)
LONDON — A 19-year-old Norwegian man was arrested on suspicion of murder after a knife attack in Central London that killed an American woman and wounded five people, the Metropolitan Police said on Thursday.
One person was killed and five were wounded Wednesday night in a knife attack in London, the Metropolitan Police said.
The attack on Wednesday night, on the eastern corner of Russell Square in Bloomsbury — a neighborhood known for its handsome garden squares that is home to the British Museum and several universities — immediately raised fears about terrorism. But after investigating through the night, the police said there was no evidence that the attack was politically motivated.
The police said they were called around 10:30 p.m. about a man with a knife who was attacking people in Russell Square, a park in Central London. A woman in her 60s died at the scene, the police said.
“Whilst the investigation is not yet complete, all of the work that we have done so far increasingly points to this tragic incident as having been triggered by mental health issues,” Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the top counterterrorism official at the Metropolitan Police, said in a statement. “At this time we believe this was a spontaneous attack and the victims were selected at random.”
Five others, two women and three men, were wounded. Details about their conditions and injuries were not immediately available, although the police said on Twitter on Thursday morning that three people had been discharged from the hospital.
The police had said in a statement early Thursday morning that terrorism was “one line of inquiry being explored,” but they later backed away from that theory.
A 19-year-old man was arrested shortly after officers arrived at the scene, the police said. They later said he was being held on suspicion of murder at a South London police station after being released from the hospital. The police used a stun gun to detain the suspect.
“So far we have found no evidence of radicalization or anything that would suggest the man in our custody was motivated by terrorism,” Mr. Rowley told reporters outside New Scotland Yard, the police headquarters.
The police said in a statement that “terrorism is one possibility being explored at this stage.” A Metropolitan Police official, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, later said, “Early indications suggest that mental health is a significant factor in this case,” while adding that security would be increased as a precautionary measure.
Mr. Rowley said the attacker was a Norwegian citizen of Somali ancestry, but that his background did not appear to be “relevant to the motivation for his actions.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement on Thursday that the “safety of all Londoners” was his top priority. He also expressed his sympathy for the victims and asked residents to keep an eye out as the investigation continued.
The woman who was killed was an American citizen, and the five wounded people, two women and three men, included citizens of Australia, Britain, Israel and the United States, Mr. Rowley said. All were hospitalized, but three were treated and released. Officials at the United States Embassy in London would not identify the victim, but Ambassador Matthew Barzun expressed his condolences on Twitter.
“I urge all Londoners to remain calm and vigilant,” Mr. Khan said. “Please report anything suspicious to the police. We all have a vital role to play as eyes and ears for our police and security services and in helping to ensure London is protected.”
In Norway, the National Criminal Investigation Service said in a statement that it was cooperating with the British authorities. The man emigrated to Britain from Norway as a child in 2002, the agency said.
Russell Square is in the Bloomsbury section of London, best known as the home of the British Museum and many universities, including University College London. Although many students live and study in Bloomsbury, and it is a popular place for tourists to stay, the area around the square is not particularly known for its night life.
The first call about the attack came at 10:33 p.m., the London police said.
The knife attack occurred just hours after officials announced the start of Operation Hercules, an initiative that included the addition of 600 armed officers to better protect the city against an attack.
Armed officers arrived six minutes later, and used a stun gun to disable the suspect. He was treated at a hospital and then taken into custody at a police station in South London. “This morning, we have searched an address in North London and will search another in South London,” Mr. Rowley told reporters.
“The threat level here in London has not changed, but it does remain at severe, and especially in light of recent deadly attacks in Europe, it is important we are prepared should the unthinkable happen,” Mr. Khan said in a statement on Wednesday.
Helen Edwards, 33, who lives in the area, was passing through Russell Square when she came across armed police officers, a rare sight in London.
“We will see more armed officers on our streets, but there is no reason to be alarmed,” he added.
“When I arrived, the police cordon was up, there were a lot of armed police, police cars, ambulance,” she said in a telephone interview, estimating that she had arrived about an hour after the attack. She began taking pictures and stayed in the area off and on, into the morning.
Most London police officers do not carry firearms in a country where gun control laws are far stricter than those in the United States.
“It was only yesterday that the police were announcing having more armed police on the streets of London,” Ms. Edwards said. “It was almost like because that was in my mind, it wasn’t quite as much of a surprise as it perhaps would have been otherwise.”
Residents in the area said the police responded quickly. “Thank you so much @metpoliceuk for being so fast, caring and efficient tonight in #russellsquare,” Susanna Cappellaro wrote in a post on Twitter. “I am a resident and I really thank you.”
“There wasn’t a huge sense of panic; I couldn’t tell whether it was some kind of incident or whether it was just an alert,” she said. “It was obvious that if something had happened it was under control.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement on Thursday that the “safety of all Londoners” was his top priority and expressed his sympathy for the victims.
The attack occurred just hours after officials announced the start of Operation Hercules, an initiative that included the addition of 600 armed officers in the city to better protect it against an attack.
Handguns were effectively banned in Britain after a school massacre in 1996, and most police officers do not carry firearms. Mr. Rowley said of the police who responded: “They detained an armed and dangerous man, and resolved it using the minimum necessary force: No shots were fired. We should be proud of them and the British tradition of using the minimum necessary force.”
Mr. Khan, who was elected in May, vowed during his campaign to “challenge gang culture and knife crime head on,” and recently said, after a fatal stabbing in North London, that he was “extremely worried” about knife crime.
The police have been on heightened alert after a series of terrorist attacks in Europe.
The police have been on heightened alert after a series of terrorist attacks in Europe.
“We have all watched the recent terrorist atrocities unfold with a terrifying and depressing sense of horror and dread,” Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, wrote in a commentary last weekend in the newspaper The Mail on Sunday, in which he announced the deployment of the 600 additional armed officers.
“Anyone who’s been following events in Europe over the past few weeks will understand why we want to show our determination to protect the public,” said the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe.
On July 7, 2005, 52 people were killed in four suicide bombings in London — two of which were not far from Russell Square — set off by Islamist militants.
The most recent murder in the country linked to terrorism occurred on May 22, 2013, when an off-duty Army soldier, Lee Rigby, was run over with a car and then hacked to death near a barracks in Woolwich, in Southeast London.
Reflecting on the heightened state of security across Europe, Ms. Edwards, the resident who came across the aftermath of the crime, said: “I don’t feel unsafe. I think every major city comes with its risks.” She added: “London as a city has been through a lot, has survived a lot and the people survived a lot. It’s at the back of your mind. But I think that if you’re constantly worried about it you just wouldn’t live here anyway.”
