Did kindness kill hero PC?
Tourists fleeing carnage tell how policeman ushered them to safety past open barriers into palace courtyard... then killer followed them in and started stabbing PC – as witness screamed: ‘SHOOT THE F ***** !’
WHEN American surgeon Jay Morris posed for a classic London holiday photograph with his niece Zoe on Wednesday outside Westminster Abbey, the hands of Big Ben in the background said 2.39pm.
Amid the traffic and tourist hubbub of Parliament Square, they could not hear a 4x4 revving up just under a kilometre away on the far side of Westminster Bridge at exactly the same moment.
It took barely a minute for their very different paths to meet. For Dr Morris’s family it was a gentle stroll across Parliament Square; for Khalid Masood, it was a frenzied drive across Westminster Bridge, leaving a bloody trail of death and destruction.
By the time Big Ben’s hands had moved to 2.41pm, Dr Morris’s wife, Jilan Liu, and Zoe had seen PC Keith Palmer stabbed to death right in front of them from INSIDE the Commons gates.
They say they were beckoned inside the parliamentary secure zone by a policeman who was trying to protect them – and were followed in through the opened gates by knife-wielding Masood. Moreover, they believe that policeman may well have been PC Keith Palmer.
Meanwhile, a despairing and brave Dr Morris looked on from outside the Commons gates shouting ‘Shoot the f ***** !’ in disbelief at the failure of police to provide armed support for their fatally wounded colleague.
He says there was a ‘significant delay’ before Masood was shot dead.
He also maintains the policeman who sheltered his family was PC Palmer: ‘If I was giving evidence in a trial, I would say it was more probably him than not. I think it’s the same guy.’
All three family members stress they cannot be sure. But if they are right, it would have significant security implications for the police investigation – and could shed vital new light on how PC Palmer died. Their account is bound to be taken seriously: Dr Morris served as a US medic in the Afghanistan-Russian war in the 1980s; his wife is an internationally acclaimed hospital consultant.
Even when I first spoke to them barely 10 minutes after they witnessed the attack, they were calm and rational – as was super-bright, Chinese-born 17-yearold New York student Zoe. Furthermore, they believe they were closer to the attack than any other public eyewitness.
If it was PC Palmer – renowned for his friendly manner towards Westminster tourists and visitors – who tried to help Dr Morris’s family, it could shed new light on the death of the fearless public spirited constable.
Dr Morris explained his theory: ‘He saw these people rushing at him and he was trying to give them some protection because he knew something was going on; he’d heard a car crash, screaming people running by.
‘He opened the little gate to let people in. He was not on guard for anything violent because he was helping people and it [would have] made him more vulnerable to attack because he was the first uniform the attacker saw when he came round the corner. He ran in a few seconds after Jilan and Zoe.’
If police had slammed the gate shut and kept bystanders out, Masood could have turned on them instead of PC Palmer, said Dr Morris. ‘There would have been no place to go and he would have started hurting [other] people.’
The first Dr Morris and his wife, who live in Seattle, knew about the terror attack was when they heard a crash round the corner from where they were standing near Parliament’s black, wrought-iron gates. He said: ‘A dozen people came
around the corner. This large guy came by with a large butcher’s knife in his hand. He was about 5ft from me.’
Dr Liu took up the story: ‘We saw horrified people running. We didn’t know what they were running from. We followed the crowd. Initially, I ran past the gate but then I thought, “It’s easier to go inside.”’
She is convinced the policeman who urged them to take shelter inside Parliament was trying to protect them, not knowing he was endangering himself. ‘He waved us in,’ she said. Dr Liu believes the gate was opened for them but says she cannot be 100% certain because of the mayhem (other reports say the gates had been opened to allow a limousine carrying the acting Metropolitan Police commissioner Craig Mackey to leave).
‘We weren’t sure whether to stay in or come out because my husband was outside. Then the guy ran in through the gate and stabbed the policeman. We were the only people right there. We were the closest,’ she said.
She and Zoe were ‘about 10ft-20ft’ from the fatal stabbing. Zoe says she saw Masood stab PC Palmer in the heart, holding him with one hand while stabbing him with the other.
Dr Morris said: ‘[Masood] was larger than the policeman and overpowered him before stabbing him around the neck and chest. He had his arm round him and was pumping him with his right arm. During the attack I did not hear either the knifeman or the victim say anything. It remained weirdly silent.
‘I was frustrated because I knew he would die if they didn’t help him. There was a significant delay between his being stabbed multiple times and the shots. I was yelling, “Shoot the f ***** .” I was frustrated at the delay as I was not sure anyone in the area was armed. There were no other policemen around.
‘I moved out of the way behind the fence as the shots were fired. All hell broke loose and people started
running around with semi-automatic assault weapons. I saw [Masood] on the ground.’
The couple’s detailed account is borne out by a grainy internet video of the incident, including the gunshots. Dr Morris can be seen in front of the gates in a yellow jacket raising his arms in despair at the lack of help for PC Palmer. Four seconds after his gesture, the shots ring out. Another 20 seconds later, Mr Mackey’s limousine exits.
By this stage, Dr Morris’s family are peering in through the railings at the fruitless attempts to save PC Palmer. The surgeon contemplated offering to help treat him but decided against it: ‘I was in shock too.’
Despite criticising the slow police response, Dr Morris does not believe it cost the constable his life.
The couple stressed their keenness to establish facts, while avoiding being accused of prejudging the police inquiry. Dr Liu urged: ‘Please make it clear there was a lot of confusion and it all happened so quickly, it is impossible to be certain about some things.’