CHEERING DRIVER RAN OVER CROWD ... AND THEN BLEW KISSES
TWO of his victims were in wheelchairs, others were helping a man who had been taken sick minutes earlier.
But, with no shred of mercy on his smirking face, he aimed his van at the throng of worshippers taking a rest between prayers.
He drove straight at his first three targets, mowing them down. He then reversed into five or six more while making victory signs and cheering. The attacker jumped out of the hired vehicle, shouting ‘I’m going to kill all Muslims’, before being captured by those he was trying to murder. He later blew kisses from the safety of the police van.
The shocking incident began around 12.20am on a sweltering night when Muslims observing Ramadan were taking a break between prayers at Finsbury Park Mosque in London.
They were chatting and eating food when an elderly man, who walked with the aid of sticks, collapsed in the road. As they crowded round to give first aid, the screaming of tyres could be heard along Seven Sisters Road.
Darren Osborne – the 47-year-old alleged attacker – was accelerating at speed down the bus lane.
‘I thought he was just late or trying to beat the lights,’ said Saeed Hasm, who works at the Qatari embassy. When the driver saw the group helping the sick man at the entrance to a cul-de-sac, Whadcoat Street, he swerved hard left and ploughed into them. Mr Hasm said: ‘He hit three people. A woman was hit first. He reversed and hit five or six more.’
Farhad Laichour, 40, added: ‘It was all over in seconds. Those people who were hit by the van didn’t have a chance to run.
‘They were deliberately targeted by a madman.’
Witnesses said two people in wheelchairs were among those hit. One was saved from worse injury by a man who, though deaf, spotted the van in the nick of time.
A bystander called Athmane told the Mail: ‘The deaf man has lived
‘Deliberately targeted’
around here for years and was very brave. I could see him trying to push the man in the wheelchair away ... He [the man in the wheelchair] had a big gash to the top of his head and was vomiting and shaking after the van hit him.
‘The driver knew exactly what he was doing.
‘The guy behind the wheel was smiling broadly and making victory signs and cheering.’
With the £80-a-day hire van trapped in a dead end, the wellbuilt terrorist leapt out of the driver’s cab and allegedly began screaming, ‘I’m going to kill all Muslims.’ He made it no more than 20ft before being wrestled to the ground, all while throwing punches.
Mr Hasm, who helped bring him down, said: ‘He was spitting and he bit my thumb and grabbed me. He was going to hurt more people. He was strong and was struggling.’ Abdulrahman Aidroos added: ‘He was saying, when he was running “I’m going to kill more people”. I tackled him down to the ground, with the help of other people. I asked him “Why did you do that, why, innocent people?” He goes “I want to kill Muslims”. ‘Then he was saying: “Kill me, kill me”. I said: “We are not going to kill you. Why did you do that?” He wouldn’t say anything.’
Zoheir Cheref said the van driver was muttering ‘I did the job,’ and ‘I
done my bit’. Scattered around the culde-sac were his wounded victims. Among them was grandmother Hirsiyo Ali, 72, who had been returning home from the mosque with a friend.
She was left lying in the road with shattered ribs. The elderly man who had collapsed before the van arrived was pronounced dead from a heart attack. Passers-by were seen giving CPR to at least one victim, while another man’s head injury was treated by bystanders with a makeshift dressing.
As two or three men held down the driver, a mob formed and began aiming kicks and punches at him.
Adil Rana, 24, said: ‘He was pinned down to the floor and people were punching him and beating him, which was reasonable because of what he’s done.
‘And then the imam came out and said: “Don’t hit him, hand him over to the police, pin him down”.’
Under the command of the imam – Mohammed Mahmoud – several burly men formed a protective ring around the attacker – although someone did manage to dodge through the cordon and land a kick to his head.
Salah Alamoudi, one of those who helped restrain the van attacker, said: ‘He was a strong guy. A big man.’
Another, Abdikadar Warfa, said: ‘He was trying to run away but people overpowered him.
‘He was fighting to run away. I saw a man underneath the van.
‘He was bleeding. My friend said he had to lift the van, but I was busy with the man who tried to escape.’
Someone flagged down a passing police van and a small group of officers took control. They cuffed Osborne, who was wearing a scruffy blue T-shirt, as the angry crowd shouted at him: ‘Why? Why did you do that? Why?’
Police ordered the crowd to stand back before bundling Osborne into the cage inside their van, partly for his own safety.
He waved and later could be seen blowing a kiss through a window.
Mr Rana added: ‘When he got arrested, he was taunting, saying “I’d do it again, I’d do it again”.’
He said the attacker mocked the crowd with a victory sign.
Abdul Abdullah, 18, said the attacker had looked indifferent and ‘like he didn’t even care’.
Police said the suspect would be taken to hospital and arrested after he had been discharged. A mental health assessment would follow.
As residents came to terms with another senseless attack on the capital’s streets, flowers were handed to police, who put the tributes inside a cordoned-off area.
One message read: ‘This hideous crime is not who we are. Finsbury Park represents the best of London. Love and tolerance.’
Another said: ‘This is an attack on all Londoners – and on my community.’