London terrorist ‘jovial’ before attack
The 52-year-old terrorist whose deadly rampage in London left four people dead and more than two dozen wounded had a long rap sheet and was “laughing and joking” in the hours before the vicious attack, a hotel manager said yesterday as anti-terror authorities scoured the city for anyone who may have played a role in planning out the crime.
As Khalid Masood was checking out of the Preston Park Hotel in Brighton, manager Sabeur Toumi said he appeared to be “normal, in fact friendly.”
“We spent possibly five or 10 minutes talking to him about his background and where he came from,” Toumi told Sky News yesterday, adding that Masood, who was previously known as Adrian Elms, was “laughing and joking, telling us stories about where he lived.”
Hours later, Masood would be shot and killed by police after driving his rented SUV into a crowd of pedestrians crossing the Westminster Bridge and fatally stabbing Constable Keith Palmer, an officer guarding Parliament. Prior to the attack, Masood had twice been convicted of violent crimes and had an arrest record dating to 1983, officials said.
Among the notable entries, police say, was a 2000 knife attack outside a pub that left a man scarred for life, and another assault involving a knife in 2003.
The details about the British-born terrorist’s past emerged as investigators combed through “massive amounts of computer data” and contacted 3,500 witnesses in a hunt for a motive.
The Islamic State group described Masood as “a soldier” while claiming responsibility for the attack.
“Clearly that’s a main line of our investigation is what led him to be radicalized: Was it through influences in our community, influences from overseas or through online propaganda?” Britain’s top counterterrorism officer, Mark Rowley, said after detectives searched 21 properties in London, Brighton, Wales, Manchester and Birmingham.
Six people were released without charges last night, leaving four in custody on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.