Suspect in ‘terror-related’ stabbing shot to death; 3 hurt
At least three people were injured in a “terrorist-related” rampage in a London suburb that ended when police fatally shot a knife-wielding suspect wearing a fake explosive device, Metropolitan Police said.
One victim suffered life-threatening stab injuries in the attack in Streatham, a town of 58,000, police said. Another person’s injuries were not life-threatening and a third person was slightly injured, likely by broken glass following the shooting, deputy assistant police commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said.
The attacker was killed by members of counter-terrorism operation who were “in immediate attendance,” she said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The incident was quickly declared as a terrorist incident,” D’Orsi said. “We believe it to be Islamist-related.”
The attack came two months after an officer shot and killed a man wearing a fake explosive device during a knife attack near London Bridge that left two people dead and three wounded.
Photos posted Sunday on social media showed streets crowded with first responders and people lying on the pavement. D’Orsi said the investigation was continuing and urged the public to use “common sense and restraint” in circulating pictures and videos of the incident, particularly images of victims and officers.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted his condolences to the injured and others affected by the attack.
“Thank you to all emergency services responding to the incident in Streatham, which the police have now declared as terrorism-related,” Johnson, a former mayor of London, tweeted.
Witness Karker Tahir told Sky News he was in a shop when he saw the apparent suspect fleeing down the street with two or three police undercover officers in a foot pursuit.
“They kept telling him ‘stop, stop’. But he didn’t stop and then I saw that they shot him three times,” Tahir said.
He said police then told the people in the store they had to leave because they found a bomb in the man’s bag, Tahir said.
Gulled Bulhan, 19, told the British Press Association he saw a man with a machete running from someone Bulhan believed was an undercover police officer.