Wielding tusk & other hero tales
The quick-thinking man who grabbed a 5-foot-long narwhal tusk from the wall of a historic London building and used it to charge a terrorist in the midst of a stabbing rampage Friday is an immigrant from Poland.
Identified only as “Lucasz” by The Times of London, the man was working as a chef in the kitchen at Fishmongers’ Hall, an events venue and eclectic museum with roots dating back to the 1600s. The tusk was from among the fishing-industry memorabilia that decorate the hall.
The terrorist, Usman Khan, 28, a jihadi paroled in December after serving half of a 16-year sentence for plotting to blow up a series of London landmarks, had been in the hall for the first part of a prison rehabilitation conference put on by Cambridge University.
Khan burst through the building’s doors wearing what appeared to be a suicide vest, threatening to blow the building up.
Witnesses said Lucasz grabbed the tusk off the wall and ran toward Khan, who had large kitchen knives in both hands. The convicted terrorist took off. By the time he made it outside the building, two people were dead and three others seriously injured.
Lucasz suffered minor injuries from the knives that reportedly would require hospitalization, but still chased the terrorist outside, using the tusk as a spear. Another man sprayed a fire extinguisher at Khan as they chased him to the nearby bridge.
Thomas Gray and Stevie Hurst, tour guides with a company called Small Cars Big City, were driving over the bridge to pick up clients, but stopped to join the scrimmage.
Gray stomped Khan’s hand, forcing him to drop one of the knives. Hurst kicked him in the head for good measure.
The unlikeliest hero to bring Khan down was a fellow ex-con from the same event — murderer James Ford, 42, who in 2004 slit the throat of a 21-year-old woman with learning disabilities.