Bystanders Tackled Suspect With Knife on London Bridge

Cops: He wore fake bomb vest, stabbed 2 people to death before being shot by police
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 29, 2019 9:40 AM CST
Updated Nov 29, 2019 12:56 PM CST
Multiple People Stabbed Near London Bridge
In this grab taken from video, a man is surrounded by police on London Bridge.   (@HLOBlog via AP)

A man wearing a fake explosive vest stabbed several people in London Friday in what police are treating as a terrorist attack before being tackled by members of the public and then fatally shot by officers on London Bridge, police and the city’s mayor said. The BBC reports that two people were dead in addition to the suspect. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said police weren’t looking for anyone else, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that "to the best of our knowledge, the incident has been contained." Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Neil Basu said the suspect appeared to be wearing a bomb vest but it turned out to be "a hoax explosive device." Basu said officers were keeping “an open mind as to any motive." Police said a stabbing at a “premises” near the pedestrian and vehicle bridge, which links the city’s business district with the south bank of the River Thames, was reported about 2 p.m.

Minutes later, witnesses saw a knifeman being wrestled to the ground by members of the public on the bridge before officers shot him dead. One video posted on social media showed two men struggling on the bridge before police pulled a man in civilian clothes off a black-clad man on the ground. Gunshots followed. Another depicted a man in suit and overcoat holding a long knife that apparently had been taken from the attacker. London Bridge was the scene of a June 2017 attack when Islamic State-inspired attackers ran down people on the bridge, killing two, before stabbing several people to death in nearby Borough Market. In March 2017, an attacker fatally struck four people with a car on nearby Westminster Bridge, then fatally stabbed a police officer before security forces shot and killed him. (More London Bridge stories.)

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