USA TODAY International Edition
BRITISH MAN ID’D IN LONDON ATTACK
Khalid Masood, 52, had no known prior terrorism convictions
Police identified the man who killed three people and injured dozens in a terror attack near Parliament before being fatally shot by police as Khalid Masood, a 52- year- old British man with a lengthy rap sheet but no known prior terrorism convictions.
“Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a ter- rorist attack,” Metropolitan Police said in a statement. Masood was known to police and his record listed a “range” of previous convictions for assault, possession of offensive weapons and other offenses, the statement said.
His first conviction came in November 1983 for criminal damage; his last conviction occurred in December 2003 for possession of a knife, police said.
Police say Masood plowed his car into a crowd on the iconic Westminster Bridge on Wednesday before fatally stabbing a police officer outside Parliament.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack through its Aamaq News Agency and called the assailant a “soldier of the Islamic State.” The claim couldn’t immediately be verified.
The fatalities included a Utah man on a trip with his wife to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, his family confirmed Thursday. Kurt Cochran’s wife, Melissa, was hospitalized with serious injuries in the attack.
Before Masood was publicly identified, Prime Minister Theresa May said the attacker was
“Our resolve will never waiver in the face of terrorism.” Prime Minister Theresa May
British- born and known to security officers. She said the man had been investigated by MI5, the domestic security agency, “some years ago” regarding concerns about violent extremism.
“He was a peripheral figure. The case is historic — he was not part of the current intelligence picture,” she said, adding there was “no prior intelligence of his intent or of the plot.”
May’s comments came as British police made multiple arrests Thursday in connection with the attack. Eight people were detained in raids on various addresses in London and Birmingham, 125 miles northwest.
The prime minister said the best response to the attack was “millions of acts of normality.”
Mark Rowley, the acting deputy commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, earlier revised down the number of dead to three. In addition to Kurt Cochran, the victims include Keith Palmer, 48, a police officer with 15 years of service, and Aysha Frade, a British mother and schoolteacher.
British media reported that the car used in the attack — a gray Hyundai i40 — was rented in Birmingham. On Thursday, anti- terrorism forces swept into a residential building there, and the BBC reported four arrests were made in the city.
Queen Elizabeth II said she and her husband, Prince Philip, would not be able to officially open New Scotland Yard, the London police headquarters, as planned Thursday “for very understandable reasons.”
“My thoughts, prayers, and deepest sympathy are with all those who have been affected by yesterday’s awful violence,” she said in a message to Craig Mackey, the acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
During the assault, a car mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, and Palmer was fatally stabbed after the vehicle crashed into the gates of Parliament and the attacker scaled a fence. Of the 40 people injured in the incident, 29 required hospitalization and seven were in critical condition.
May said 12 Britons were taken to hospitals. The other victims include three French teenagers, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one American, one German, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian and two Greeks, she said.
Three police officers were injured as they returned from an event to recognize their bravery, May said, adding two were in serious condition.
Both houses of Parliament resumed normal operations Thursday. A minute’s silence to honor the victims was held shortly after 9.30 a. m. local time. The crime scene and surrounding area remained cordoned off and police asked people to steer clear of the areas close to Parliament. A candlelit vigil will be held in Trafalgar Square later Thursday, the office of London’s mayor announced.
“We are not afraid,” May said in her address to Parliament. “Our resolve will never waiver in the face of terrorism. And we meet here, in the oldest of all Parliaments, because we know that democracy — and the values it entails — will always prevail.”