Wonk
2018-08-16 09:01:29 UTC
The man suspected of intentionally ramming a vehicle into
pedestrians and cyclists outside Britains Houses of Parliament
on Tuesday has been identified as a U.K. national originally
from Sudan, and has been additionally charged with attempted
murder, police said.
But London's Metropolitan Police Service did not name the 29-
year-old suspect, who was arrested at the scene of the 7:37 a.m.
incident in which a Ford Fiesta crashed into pedestrians and
cyclists before striking barriers.
No one was killed. Two people who suffered injuries that were
not considered life-threatening were taken to a hospital, and
another person was treated at the scene, officials have said.
The two people taken to the hospital, a man and a woman, have
been treated and released, police said in Wednesdays statement.
Police said they are treating the incident as an act of
terrorism. Reuters, citing a European security source, named the
suspect as Salih Khater from Birmingham. In their official
statement, police said they had searched three addresses in
Birmingham, and one in Nottingham.
Police said in the statement that "given that it appears to have
been a deliberate act, the method used and the iconic location,
it is being treated as a terrorist incident and the
investigation is being led by officers from the Mets Counter
Terrorism Command."
"The priority of the investigation team continues to be to
understand the motivation behind this incident," police said.
Police said the man was arrested on suspicion of the commission,
preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, and that he
had been subsequently charged with attempted murder. From the
police statement, it is unclear when the suspect came to the U.K.
At the time of the arrest there was no one else in the vehicle
and no weapons were found, police said.
Ahmed Abdi, a neighbor of Khater in Birmingham, said he
recognized him from news footage, "and I was shocked."
"He was very, very quiet and he never spoke to anybody. He would
say nothing to nobody," Abdi said, according to The Associated
Press.
Coventry University, which is just outside Birmingham, confirmed
that Khater studied accountancy there from September 2017 until
May of this year, but as of May he was no longer enrolled at the
school.
The Metropolitan Police Service said that the Fiesta was driven
from Birmingham to London late on Monday night, arriving just
after midnight, and that it was driven around Westminster at
around 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning and stayed in the area until it
crashed into pedestrians and cyclists.
Several eyewitnesses have said they saw the car plow into a
group of 10 or 15 cyclists waiting at a red light.
The apparent terror attack came a year after a man drove his car
across Westminster Bridge, struck pedestrians and then stabbed a
police officer to death. Five people died, including the
officer, and more than 50 were injured. The attacker was shot
dead.
That attack, as well as several similar ones across Europe,
resulted in more security barriers being erected across the
British capital to try to stop vehicle-based attacks.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/man-held-london-car-ram-
incident-u-k-national-originally-n901091
pedestrians and cyclists outside Britains Houses of Parliament
on Tuesday has been identified as a U.K. national originally
from Sudan, and has been additionally charged with attempted
murder, police said.
But London's Metropolitan Police Service did not name the 29-
year-old suspect, who was arrested at the scene of the 7:37 a.m.
incident in which a Ford Fiesta crashed into pedestrians and
cyclists before striking barriers.
No one was killed. Two people who suffered injuries that were
not considered life-threatening were taken to a hospital, and
another person was treated at the scene, officials have said.
The two people taken to the hospital, a man and a woman, have
been treated and released, police said in Wednesdays statement.
Police said they are treating the incident as an act of
terrorism. Reuters, citing a European security source, named the
suspect as Salih Khater from Birmingham. In their official
statement, police said they had searched three addresses in
Birmingham, and one in Nottingham.
Police said in the statement that "given that it appears to have
been a deliberate act, the method used and the iconic location,
it is being treated as a terrorist incident and the
investigation is being led by officers from the Mets Counter
Terrorism Command."
"The priority of the investigation team continues to be to
understand the motivation behind this incident," police said.
Police said the man was arrested on suspicion of the commission,
preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, and that he
had been subsequently charged with attempted murder. From the
police statement, it is unclear when the suspect came to the U.K.
At the time of the arrest there was no one else in the vehicle
and no weapons were found, police said.
Ahmed Abdi, a neighbor of Khater in Birmingham, said he
recognized him from news footage, "and I was shocked."
"He was very, very quiet and he never spoke to anybody. He would
say nothing to nobody," Abdi said, according to The Associated
Press.
Coventry University, which is just outside Birmingham, confirmed
that Khater studied accountancy there from September 2017 until
May of this year, but as of May he was no longer enrolled at the
school.
The Metropolitan Police Service said that the Fiesta was driven
from Birmingham to London late on Monday night, arriving just
after midnight, and that it was driven around Westminster at
around 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning and stayed in the area until it
crashed into pedestrians and cyclists.
Several eyewitnesses have said they saw the car plow into a
group of 10 or 15 cyclists waiting at a red light.
The apparent terror attack came a year after a man drove his car
across Westminster Bridge, struck pedestrians and then stabbed a
police officer to death. Five people died, including the
officer, and more than 50 were injured. The attacker was shot
dead.
That attack, as well as several similar ones across Europe,
resulted in more security barriers being erected across the
British capital to try to stop vehicle-based attacks.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/man-held-london-car-ram-
incident-u-k-national-originally-n901091