Police Shoot Man Dead on London Bridge in ‘Terrorist Incident’: Man Appears to Wear Terrorist Belt

New York Times ^ | 11/29/2019 | Megan Specia

[SeekAndFind]

LONDON — A police officer shot and killed a man wearing a fake bomb on London Bridge on Friday, after several people were stabbed in what the police called a terrorist incident, which paralyzed one of the busiest arteries through the city.

The chaotic clash, in a country where shootings are rare, involved several officers and civilians, and sent scores of people fleeing from the bridge and areas near it on both sides of the River Thames. It also revived memories of recent terrorist attacks in London, including one on the same bridge in 2017 that killed eight people.

“It has been declared a terrorist incident,” Neil Basu, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said of the episode on Friday.

Video posted on social media showed a crowd surrounding a man whom they appeared to be wrestling with and holding to the ground as police officers arrived. One man can be seen carrying a large knife away from the area as at least three police officers respond with their guns drawn.

The police pulled the other people away from the man on the ground, and then an officer appeared to fire at least one shot, hitting the man and prompting screams from bystanders.

“Due to reports that the suspect may have had an explosive device, specialist officers also attended the scene,” Mr. Basu said. “However, I can confirm at this time, we believe a device strapped to the body of the suspect is a hoax explosive device.”

The man died at the scene, he said.

The Metropolitan Police said that they had initially responded to reports of a stabbing in a premises near London Bridge around 2 p.m. and that one man had been arrested and a number of people were injured.

[ArmstedFragg]

Pretty darn impressed by the guy with the whale tusk and the guy with the fire extinguisher who went after him.

[ArmstedFragg]

Sort of the Brit version of Flight 93.

[DoughtyOne]

Those terrorist belts don’t protect ‘em like they used to. /s

[Phil DiBasquette]

If only we knew the fellows motivation

[Peter Libra]

Usman Khan was shot dead following the murders. That name Khan is one scary appendage.

[Winniesboy]

The name was revealed in hours. It's only not revealed when the perp survives, has been arrested but not yet formally charged. It's standard police practice in the UK for all criminal charges (from the most trivial to the most serious) not to publish names until the accused first appears in court (which for a serious offence will be within hours of charging).

[ronnie raygun]

Those awful guns again need to be band. Will the bobby who killed this innocent Muslim victim be jailed for using a FIREARM!!!!