Terror strikes heart of London
4 DEAD NEAR PARLIAMENT
A DEADLY London terror strike plunged the city into chaos Wednesday when a bloodthirsty motorist mowed down helpless pedestrians on a historic bridge before crashing a House of Parliament gate and stabbing a police officer to death.
Four people were killed, including the unarmed cop, and more than 40 people were injured before police shot and killed the driver outside the heart of Britain’s political life.
The assault — the worst terror attack in England since the subway bombings of 2005 — brought carnage and chaos to Westminster, putting Parliament on lockdown and politicians on high alert.
“The location of this attack was no accident,” said British Prime Minister Theresa May after she was whisked away from the government center to a secure command post.
“The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech. But let me make it clear today, as I have had cause to do before, any attempt to defeat those values through violence and terror is doomed to failure.”
She called the attacker — who had yet to be identified — a “sick and depraved terrorist.”
The nightmare began shortly after 2:30 p.m. London time, when a Hyundai Tucson SUV speeding at about 50 mph plowed through a crowd along the iconic Westminster Bridge, which spans the River Thames.
Witnesses said panicked pedestrians either jumped from the bridge or were knocked over its side as the car mounted the pavement and picked off people walking. Some of the injuries suffered in the attack were described as “catastrophic.”
Photos and videos revealed scenes of carnage in the aftermath of the attack, which took place as Parliament was in session. One member of the British government, Tobias Ellwood, threw himself into the fray, giving mouth-tomouth resuscitation to the officer who eventually died.
Among the injured were three French teens on a school trip to London, according to France’s Foreign Ministry.
“It was horrendous,” a witness told CNN, describing a scene of a dozen bodies scattered along the bridge. “Absolutely horrendous.”
The slain police officer, Keith Palmer, 48, was a husband and father who had had served in the Metropolitan Police Service for 15 years.
The car’s driver, carrying a pair of knives, crashed into railings on the bridge before abandoning the vehicle about 200 yards from the entrance to Parliament. Witnesses reported seeing the man, waving a knife as panicked people ran for their lives, sprinting directly toward the seat of government.
“This is a day that we had planned for — that we all hoped would never happen — but sadly it is now a reality,” said Mark Rowley, Britain’s most senior counterterror police officer.
London was already on alert for the funeral of former Irish Republican Army commander and Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, which is scheduled for Thursday.
The attack came a year to the day after the Brussels airport and metro station bombings that killed 32.
President Trump shared concern.
“Spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London,” Trump tweeted. “She is strong and doing very well.”
The White House was quick to his offer support to its British allies.
“We condemn today’s attack in Westminster, which the United Kingdom is treating as an act of terrorism,” said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.
Britain “has the full support of the U.S. government in responding to the attack,” he added.
The NYPD said after the attack that it had redeployed long-gun teams to the British Consulate, City Hall and Grand Central Terminal.
The London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames, was also placed on lockdown, with many riders stuck inside its cabs. One visitor from Madrid tweeted a photo from the towering observation wheel, saying he had been up there for more BLOODBATH AT BIG BEN