Polish hero was stabbed five times, but kept on fighting
Witnesses to jihadist’s knife rampage reveal acts of bravery that saved lives in the hall and on the bridge
WHEN Usman Khan emerged into the hallway armed and ready to begin his rampage of terror, Jack Merritt, his mentor, was the first to try to stop him.
Friends and colleagues said he had found an “affinity” with the convicted terrorist, and was convinced that he could “guide him to redemption”.
But that faith was repaid with violence as Khan lashed out at those who tried to prevent his murderous spree.
A blow-by-blow account of Friday’s attack emerged yesterday along with details of incredible acts of heroism.
Khan had been given permission by the authorities to travel to London unsupervised and in the morning had given a “convincing” talk about his rehabilitation in a workshop at Learning Together’s fifth anniversary event.
But the convicted terrorist, who had been released from prison only 11 months earlier, used a break in the afternoon’s proceedings to go into the lavatories and tape a fake suicide vest to his body and knives to his hands.
At around 1.55pm, in the hallway on the first floor of Fishmongers’ Hall he began his attack.
Mr Merritt, 25, who had helped to organise the event, tried to calm him down along with others who had been in the building’s banqueting hall.
Bryonn Bain, an associate professor with the University of California, Los Angeles, who spoke at the conference, said that the “brave” Cambridge graduate “was the first line of defence, he was the first person to confront him”.
Lukasz, a worker at the venue who was cleaning glasses in the basement, heard screams and also ran to help.
“He goes toward the trouble, he gets there on the first floor and it is very clear that there’s a bad guy, he’s got two knives in his hand, there’s screaming, there’s chaos,” Toby Williamson, the chief executive of the Fishmongers’ Company, told the BBC.
Lukasz armed himself with a long stick and “charges towards the bad guy” but hits “something protective”.
“But he’s buying time and he allows others to escape, to move to adjacent rooms, and at that point he has about a one minute one-on-one straight combat,” Mr Williamson said. “This guy Khan then works his way up Lukasz’s pole, slashing with his knife, he takes five wounds to his left side.”
Mr Bain said that it “felt like a war zone... it felt like total chaos”.
Lukasz, who, it was announced yesterday, would receive an honour for bravery in his native Poland, started to lose strength but two men from the conference rushed to intervene. One was armed with a fire extinguisher and the other with a narwhal tusk that he had ripped from the wall.
“They come and join the fight and it is pretty gruesome and I think the terrorist decided he was outnumbered, he runs though and goes down the main staircase and the next bit of hell is he is at reception and he can’t get out the front door,” Mr Williamson said.
Gareth, the doorman “is pushing the door shut as good as he can” while another worker – named only as Dawn – called the police.
Saskia Jones, 23, who had volunteered with Learning Together, was fatally wounded inside the building. At least two others were seriously injured.
A trapped Khan turned to the women in the cloakroom – Alla and Sandra – and gave them a “hell of a time” before a showdown in the entrance hall with Lukasz “leading the charge”.
Mr Williamson said: “Andy, the last guy introduced here, our maintenance man, he’s a Ministry of Defence ex-policeman and he’s also a pretty cool customer. But when the knife goes to his chest and kill or open the door is the choice he pauses for a moment, he’s reluctant to spill all this out on to the pavement ... but he makes exactly the right choice, the door’s opened, out the terrorist falls and the first one after him is Lukasz shouting at everyone to get out of the way, to get back.
“But members of the public just don’t do that nowadays, they ... join in and the man with the fire extinguisher, the man with the narwhal tusk, they are all in there.”
Footage has emerged of the two men linked to the charity spraying Khan with the fire extinguisher and prodding him with the narwhal tusk before he is tackled to the floor.
Some of those who helped out were former convicts who were attending the event, it was said last night.
Moments later, at 2.02pm, police marksmen arrived and, after pulling the final member of the public away, Khan was shot dead. In his wake he left a trail of devastation, with Mr Bain revealing: “I saw people die. I saw things that I will never be able to unsee.”
Those who will feel that devastation most keenly are the family and friends of Miss Jones and Mr Merritt, who had dedicated their lives to helping others.
David Merritt wrote yesterday that his son was “was selfless in his dedication to make things right in every second of his life”.
“Jack devoted his energy to the purpose of Learning Together: a pioneering programme to bring students from university and prisons together to share their unique perspectives on justice,” he said. “Unlike many of us, Jack did not just go to work. He lived and breathed fire in his pursuit of a better world for all humanity, particularly those most in need.”
One source at Cambridge said: “We’ve heard that Khan was initially very sceptical about the group that wanted to help him rebuild his life but built up a mutual understanding and respect towards Jack. It wasn’t so much a friendship, but there seems to have been a special bond, a closeness.
“Jack was convinced he could guide Khan to redemption. I think he really believed he could turn his life around.”
“He even became a case study for the group. That’s why it’s so galling that Jack was murdered in cold blood by the man who appeared to have bonded with him.”
‘This guy Khan then works his way up Lukasz’s pole, slashing with his knife, he takes five wounds to his left side’