One woman has been killed and five injured after a knifeman went on the rampage in Russell Square, London, late on Thursday night. Police said the lady who died was an American in her sixties. Those injured were British, Israeli, Australian and American. Police earlier said ‘terrorism is one possibility being explored at this stage’ but went on to say they found no evidence of radicalization or anything to suggest the man held – a 19-year-old Norwegian of Somalian ancestry – had been motivated by terrorism.
The attack happened just after 10.30pm on Thursday and the response from police – on the day the Met unveiled their new specialist anti-terrorism squad – was swift; armed officers arrived within just a few minutes. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said:
We started to receive 999 calls from the public at 10:33pm to reports of a man attacking people with a knife. Within six minutes of that call our armed officers were there; the man was Tasered and he was detained. Our firearms officers bravely rushed to that scene with very little information. They would not have known if this was an act of terrorism or the random attack we now know it be. They detained an armed and dangerous man – and resolved it using the minimum necessary force – no shots were fired.
Rowley went on to say that those heading into London will now notice an ‘increased police presence’ on the streets – in particular more armed officers, to provide ‘reassurance and safety’. It’s still far too early to tell what has happened in this horrific case and it’s right that police are keeping an open mind about exactly what took place. One thing seems clear, though: but for the quick response of police, things could have been much, much worse.
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