B.C. native killed in London terror attack
BRITAIN LEFT REELING AFTER SEVEN PEOPLE KILLED IN LATEST TERRORIST STRIKE, INCLUDING WOMAN FROM B.C.
Christine “Chrissy” Archibald, a British Columbia native who went to university in Calgary before moving to Europe to be with her fiancé was identified Sunday as the lone Canadian victim in an terrorist attack in London.
Archibald’s family in Castlegar, B.C., released a statement through the federal government confirming the news. “We grieve the loss of our beautiful, loving daughter and sister,” the statement said. “She had room in her heart for everyone and believed everyone was to be valued and respected.”
Archibald, 30, was caught up in a deadly attack in a popular tourist district Saturday night, a terrorist strike that saw three men kill seven and wound dozens of others. Her family remembered her Sunday for her work with the homeless. According to a LinkedIn profile in her name, she had a degree in social work from Mount Royal University and worked at a shelter after graduation.
“She would have had no understanding of the casual cruelty that caused her death,” her family said. “Please honour her by making her community a better place. Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter. Tell them Chrissy sent you.”
Saturday’s attack came less than two weeks after 22 people, including many children, were slaughtered at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester and days before a scheduled British election that polls suggest may be much tighter than originally expected. It struck a country balanced now more than ever between performative nonchalance and aggressive, bigoted overreaction.
According to eyewitness accounts, the carnage started just after 10 p.m. on the legendary London Bridge and carried on into the adjacent Borough Market, a popular restaurant and tourist district. Witnesses described seeing a white van travelling about 80 km/h barrel across the bridge, mount a sidewalk and thump into a crowd of pedestrians crossing the Thames River.
Three men emerged from the van, carrying knives. At least one, according to witnesses, had a machete. In a violent spate that lasted mere minutes, they slashed their way through the streets, causing chaos, but meeting resistance, too.
A Romanian chef told the Associated Press he hit one of the attackers on the head with a crate before sheltering about 20 bystanders in the bakery where he works.
An off-duty police officer, a rugby player in his private life, was stabbed and left in critical condition after tackling one of the attackers.
Another witness, identified by the BBC as Gerard Vowls, said he threw “bottles at them, pint glasses, stools, chairs” — in a bid to stop the rampage. “But at the end of the day, I was defenceless, mate. If I’d a fell over, they’d have probably killed me.”
Armed police officers were on the scene within moments. On Sunday, London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said officers fired more than 50 rounds, killing all three assailants just eight minutes after the first emergency call came in.
In total, at least 48 people were reported injured and seven killed, not including the attackers.
As doctors and nurses tended to the wounded, police carried out raids in the east London neighbourhood of Barking in a signal that authorities are probing at least the possibility that others may have been involved in the attack’s planning. A dozen people were arrested, police said.
But authorities did not raise the nation’s threat level, as they had after a bombing in Manchester last month, suggesting they believe that all the main London plotters have been killed.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that one Canadian was among the dead.
“Canada strongly condemns the senseless attack that took place last night in London, United Kingdom, which killed and injured many innocent people. I am heartbroken that a Canadian is among those killed,” Trudeau said in a statement.
“We grieve with the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones, and wish all those injured a speedy and full recovery.”
In a statement, new Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer called the attack “another reminder that we live in dark and dangerous times. We must not allow random acts of terror to become the new normal.”
The attack forced a momentary pause in the U.K.’s surprisingly heated election campaign. On Sunday, British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed the attack on the “evil ideology of Islamic extremism” and said the country needs to step up its fight against radical ideologies. “Things need to change,” she said, speaking outside her official residence at 10 Downing Street.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, took a thinly veiled jab at May, saying he hoped voters would reflect on “the need to have sufficient police officers on our streets” — a reference to his oft-repeated criticism that Tory austerity has left security services lacking the necessary resources.
In the United States, President Donald Trump used the attack as an opportunity to berate London’s mayor and bash the idea of political correctness.
In a response widely criticized as either wilfully or blindly insensitive and factually incorrect, Trump accused Sadiq Khan of downplaying the dangers of the attack.
“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!” he tweeted.
In fact, Khan had urged the citizens of London not to be alarmed — by the large number of police officers patrolling the streets. A spokesman for Khan told the press Sunday that the mayor had “more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet.”