Victims mourned as details emerge on stabbing spree
LONDON — The English town of Reading mourned Monday for three people, including an American, stabbed to death as they sat in a park in what is being treated as a terror attack, gathering for a moment of silence as police questioned the alleged lone attacker.
More than 100 students lit candles and laid flowers in memory of history teacher James Furlong, who was named as one of the victims.
“He was so passionate and enthusiastic about history and about learning, and anything that was boring, anything you didn’t find interesting, he would make it interesting,” former student Molly Collins told the BBC.
Furlong’s friend, Joe RitchieBennett, 39, was named by his family in Philadelphia as the second victim. The identity of the third victim has not been released.
The stabbing rampage took place Saturday evening as groups of people relaxed in Forbury Gardens park in Reading. A 25yearold suspect is in custody.
Police have not identified the suspect, but Britain’s national news agency, Press Association, and other media outlets named the alleged attacker as Khairi Saadallah, a Libyan asylumseeker living in Reading.
Saadallah had been depressed and received psychological treatment because of the chaos in Libya after the NATObacked uprising that toppled and then killed dictator Moammar Khadafy, a family member in Tripoli told the Associated Press.
The relative said Saadallah was born to a wealthy family in the city of Tripoli. Though he supported Khadafy’s ouster, he became disillusioned with the chaotic aftermath.
The relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Saadallah had lived in Britain since he was 17 and had adopted a western lifestyle.
The BBC reported that Saadallah was investigated by British security services last year over concerns he planned to travel abroad to join a jihadi group, but that he was not determined to be a major threat.
Questions were immediately raised about whether he should have been under closer watch. But Mark Rowley, former assistant commissioner for specialist operations in the Metropolitan Police, told the BBC that the task is daunting, given that some 40,000 people are in the system.
“To spot one of those who is going to go from a casual interest into a determined attacker, which can happen in a matter of days, is the most wicked problem that the services face,” he said.