UK police identify British-born attacker, victim count rises to four

[webfact]

UK police identify British-born attacker, victim count rises to four

By Michael Holden and Estelle Shirbon

REUTERS

 

Police officers stand on Westminster Bridge the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and weilding a knife left five people dead and dozens injured, in London, Britain, March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Darren Staples

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The attacker who ploughed a car through a throng of pedestrians and then stabbed a policeman outside Britain's parliament was named on Thursday as Khalid Masood, a British-born man who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism.

 

The death toll from Wednesday's attack on the heart of Britain's democracy grew to five as police said one of the injured, a 75-year-man, had died in hospital after his life support was withdrawn.

 

That number included Masood, 52, who was shot dead by police.

 

The attack was the deadliest in Britain since 2005, when 52 people were killed by Islamist suicide bombers on London's public transport system.

 

It followed a series of Islamist militant operations that have killed some 280 people in France, Belgium and Germany in just over two years, and marked the third occasion a lone attacker has used a vehicle as a weapon.

 

Islamic State claimed responsibility in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the jihadist group.

 

Police said Masood was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England.

 

"Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

 

"However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences."

 

Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but had been a peripheral figure.

 

A U.S government source said Masood had associates with an interest in joining jihadist groups abroad, but there was no evidence he had done so himself.

 

"The people he was hanging out with did include people suspected of having an interest in travelling to join jihadi groups overseas but the attacker himself never did so," the source said.

 

Police said Masood had never been convicted of a terrorist offence. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last one in December 2003 for possession of a knife.

 

MAYHEM

 

During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, mowing down pedestrians. He then ran through the gates of the nearby parliamentary precinct and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman, Keith Palmer, before being shot dead.

 

"He will be deeply missed. We love him so much," Palmer's family said in a statement. The 48-year-old was married with a five-year-old daughter.

 

About 40 people were injured, of whom some were in critical condition. May visited some of them, her spokesman said.

 

Police arrested eight people at six locations in London and Birmingham in the investigation into the attack, which May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology. All were suspected of preparing terrorist acts, police later confirmed.

 

The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is in the West Midlands.

 

The bloodshed took place on the first anniversary of attacks that killed 32 people in Brussels. A minute's silence was held in parliament and outside police headquarters on Thursday morning.

 

As dusk fell, hundreds gathered in London's Trafalgar Square in a vigil to remember the victims. With traffic diverted away, volunteers handed out candles in an eerie silence.

 

Helen Pallot, 26, from just outside London, was holding a bunch of flowers she planned to lay nearby.

 

"I have got a lot of friends and family that work five minutes away from there, so it just makes you think," she said. "It made me angry and sad and I wanted to come here and show that we can still all be here together."

 

Speaking at the United Nations in New York, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Internet providers and social media networks to do more to curb extremist propaganda.

 

"They’ve got to look at the stuff that’s going up on their sites, they’ve got to take steps to invigilate it, to take it down where they can," he said.

 

"LONE-WOLF ATTACK"

 

The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Chinese, one American and two Greeks, May said.

 

Queen Elizabeth released a message saying: "My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday's awful violence."

 

U.S. tourist Kurt Cochran was named as one of the dead in a Facebook post by family member Shantell Payne.

 

"With a heavy heart I must pass the sad news of our beautiful brother, father, husband, son and friend Kurt Cochran, he could not overcome the injuries he received in the London terror attacks," Payne wrote.

 

Her post said Cochran's wife, Melissa Payne Cochran, was in hospital with a broken leg and rib and a cut on her head.

The couple were in Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump paid tribute to Cochran in a tweet, calling him "a great American".

 

Many have been shocked that the attacker was able to cause such mayhem in the heart of the capital equipped with nothing more than a hired car and a knife.

 

"This kind of attack, this lone-wolf attack, using things from daily life, a vehicle, a knife, are much more difficult to forestall," Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC.

 

Three French high-school students on a school trip to London were among the injured. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault met some of their fellow students near the hospital where they were being treated. Their lives were not in danger.

 

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, William James, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton, Kylie Maclellan, Elisabeth O'Leary, Michael Holden, Alistair Smout, Stephen Addison and Mark Hosenball; writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Ralph Boulton, Kevin Liffey and Mark Trevelyan)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-03-24

[Somtamnication]

May he rot in hell. 

[alex8912]

A life of being a criminal, a coward, a loser, zero. A name we will all soon forget. Causes terror, pain and death is such a beautiful place. Less than zero. 

[pitrevie]

27 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

May he rot in hell. 

Contrary to his belief the only rotting he will be doing is in the ground.

[steven100]

Maybe British born  ....  but still a radical extremist    !!   hell for him.

 

Go Donald Trump   !!    Go Pauline Hanson  !!!      least they have the balls to speak what they think  

[thai3]

12 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

A life of being a criminal, a coward, a loser, zero. A name we will all soon forget. Causes terror, pain and death is such a beautiful place. Less than zero. 

He will be a martyr and a great hero to many in the Muslim world, unfortunately. 

[ourmanflint]

Also arrest his Imam, if anyone radicalises, it is the Imams

[boomerangutang]

11 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

Also arrest his Imam, if anyone radicalises, it is the Imams

            In the US, the Iman would be called 'an accessory to a crime' if found guilty of condoning the crime beforehand and/or encouraging such heinous actions.   If the crime happened in the US, the killer would likely have had a gun and the damage have been more dire. 

[AhFarangJa]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

a British-born man who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism.

Probably left alone in case some bleeding heart Liberal Lefty starting whining about his Human Rights......R.I.P. to the innocent victims.......Bury him with a dozen pig heads please...

[smedly]

common denominator - known to authorities

 

Time to get tough

I don't care if this evil scum was born in the UK or not, if the intelligence agencies have identified anyone as a person of interest at any time then follow their family roots and send them all back to where they originated, these people cannot be tolerated or accommodated any longer.

 

If they don't act now this stuff is only going to get worse, every adult in the country has in their possession a lethal weapon with potential to kill many innocent defenceless people, it's called a motor vehicle

[AhFarangJa]

14 minutes ago, smedly said:

common denominator - known to authorities

 

Time to get tough

I don't care if this evil scum was born in the UK or not, if the intelligence agencies have identified anyone as a person of interest at any time then follow their family roots and send them all back to where they originated, these people cannot be tolerated or accommodated any longer.

 

If they don't act now this stuff is only going to get worse, every adult in the country has in their possession a lethal weapon with potential to kill many innocent defenceless people, it's called a motor vehicle

+1, 

[dick dasterdly]

20 minutes ago, smedly said:

common denominator - known to authorities

 

Time to get tough

I don't care if this evil scum was born in the UK or not, if the intelligence agencies have identified anyone as a person of interest at any time then follow their family roots and send them all back to where they originated, these people cannot be tolerated or accommodated any longer.

 

If they don't act now this stuff is only going to get worse, every adult in the country has in their possession a lethal weapon with potential to kill many innocent defenceless people, it's called a motor vehicle

As far as I can make out, he was born Adrian Elms to a non-moslem family - and later in life converted to Islam.

 

If so, his family would appear to be 'ordinary' Brits.  How far back should they go to find an originating country, bearing in mind the family name is (apparently) Elms?

[whatawonderfulday]

4 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

May he rot in hell. 

Actually should just feed his body to the pigs

[smedly]

40 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

As far as I can make out, he was born Adrian Elms to a non-moslem family - and later in life converted to Islam.

 

If so, his family would appear to be 'ordinary' Brits.  How far back should they go to find an originating country, bearing in mind the family name is (apparently) Elms?

indeed that is what I get for making assumptions - but he is an exception TBH and he should have been removed from society, my other post still stands though, authorities must get  tough on these extremists but I fear  it is too late

 

As has been shown across Europe - these people are not integrating into western society, they are segregating themselves and creating isolated muslim communities of their own, they have their own schools - laws etc, they are not integrating at all.....................they do not fit in Christian countries were we separate law and religion and live by democratic freedoms and laws that enforce them - these people do not fit and never will, every freedom that we have - every principle that we have - every law that runs our society does not fit with the engrained religious fanatical beliefs they are taught from they are born which is why they come to the UK and Europe and separate themselves from normal free society into their own little enclaves...............that is not integration by any meaning that I understand

 

 

additionally

 

He was very English but mixed race with a big beard

Edited March 24, 2017 by smedly

[Stupooey]

22 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

As far as I can make out, he was born Adrian Elms to a non-moslem family - and later in life converted to Islam. 

 

If so, his family would appear to be 'ordinary' Brits.  How far back should they go to find an originating country, bearing in mind the family name is (apparently) Elms?

Apparently he 'converted to Islam after a life of violent crime', so I don't think Islam can shoulder all the blame for his actions. He was in all probability brought up on the Bible, so he would have learned all about violence from that.

[sanukjim]

5 hours ago, thai3 said:

He will be a martyr and a great hero to many in the Muslim world, unfortunately. 

And of the same religion as his Mayor Khan.

[fry30]

3 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

As far as I can make out, he was born Adrian Elms to a non-moslem family - and later in life converted to Islam.

 

If so, his family would appear to be 'ordinary' Brits.  How far back should they go to find an originating country, bearing in mind the family name is (apparently) Elms?

 

His ancestors were probably from the sunny part of Britain, the one that make your skin very dark.

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by fry30

[thai3]

4 hours ago, Stupooey said:

Apparently he 'converted to Islam after a life of violent crime', so I don't think Islam can shoulder all the blame for his actions. He was in all probability brought up on the Bible, so he would have learned all about violence from that.

But it was not the bible he was acting under the influence of was it, it was the Koran with it's 109 verses advocating violence, especially against the unbeliever and those meddling in Muslim lands. It might not be so bad if these cowardly murderers had the balls to attack serving soldiers as they do see it as a war, instead they mow down innocent elderly, kids and tourists on a bridge in the name of their non existing god and their religion of 'peace'.

[Lokie]

6 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

As far as I can make out, he was born Adrian Elms to a non-moslem family - and later in life converted to Islam.

 

If so, his family would appear to be 'ordinary' Brits.  How far back should they go to find an originating country, bearing in mind the family name is (apparently) Elms?

He don't look Anglo-Saxon, Celtic or Norse to me?

 

Not that it matters, white, black, brown - anyone proven to be in cahoots with these cowards should be shot on sight, no quarter given but until then unfortunately deaths will occur at the hands of scumbag cowards.

 

Don't tell me not one of his family and friends did not have a clue that he could get into this sort of crap... So again why did none of them let the authorities know? Just as guilty as pulling the trigger, putting the knife in or mowing down innocents, this is what grates the average person on the street with certain sections of 'Our' communities

 

Didn't JFK say something about remaining quiet?

[boomerangutang]

3 hours ago, Lokie said:

He don't look Anglo-Saxon, Celtic or Norse to me?

 

Not that it matters, white, black, brown - anyone proven to be in cahoots with these cowards should be shot on sight, no quarter given but until then unfortunately deaths will occur at the hands of scumbag cowards.

 

Don't tell me not one of his family and friends did not have a clue that he could get into this sort of crap... So again why did none of them let the authorities know? Just as guilty as pulling the trigger, putting the knife in or mowing down innocents, this is what grates the average person on the street with certain sections of 'Our' communities

 

Didn't JFK say something about remaining quiet?

            I agree with you to some extent.  Yet, people say alarming things often, and can't always be taken literally.  How often does a wife say to her husband, when pissed off, "I'm going to kill you" or if she's Thai, "If you boom boom another woman I'll cut your kwai off."    If a person reported every threat made in anger to police, cops would spend all their working hours processing complaints.  

 

                Having said that, however, every threat is unique in its own way.  So, if anyone heard the buttplug (from the OP) repeatedly swearing he was going to murder as many heathens as possible (or words to that effect) then yes, they should report it to authorities.  Even so, not reporting it, is not as guilty as the dastardly acts themselves.  Collusion maybe, and that too should be punished.  But the ultimate criminal is the killer himself.  

 

[brewsterbudgen]

And of the same religion as his Mayor Khan.

The fact that London has a democratically elected Muslim Mayor is a source of great hope, as are the Muslim MPs who made moving speeches in Parliament yesterday. I have great faith that the British electorate will never elect demagogues like Trump or Farage.

[joecoolfrog]

12 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

As far as I can make out, he was born Adrian Elms to a non-moslem family - and later in life converted to Islam.

 

If so, his family would appear to be 'ordinary' Brits.  How far back should they go to find an originating country, bearing in mind the family name is (apparently) Elms?

If you are going to get logical you will spoil all the ranting !

[joecoolfrog]

16 hours ago, steven100 said:

Maybe British born  ....  but still a radical extremist    !!   hell for him.

 

Go Donald Trump   !!    Go Pauline Hanson  !!!      least they have the balls to speak what they think  

Yes Trump and Hanson are radical extremists , hell is the place for them?

[simple1]

17 hours ago, sanukjim said:

And of the same religion as his Mayor Khan.

I do wish that members would cease nonsense (vilification) posts such as the above. Khan has repeatedly condemned terrorism, stood by the people of London and so on. 

 

It is easy to confirm Khan views so why carry on with your ignorant comments, same applies to the member who 'liked' your post.