A 19-year-old man is now in police custody at a London hospital while two men and three woman were injured, as well as a woman in her 60s who died at the scene.
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Police meanwhile probed possible terrorist links following the arrest of a 19-year-old man at the scene of the incident which took place late on Wednesday in Russell Square.
The woman who fell to the stabbing attack was an American national, Rowley said, adding that those injured were Australian, American, Israeli and British nationals.
While police initially said that “terrorism remains one line of inquiry”, they later announced that no evidence had been found to suggest that the suspect had been radicalized or that he was motivated by terrorism.
“The fact that they’re even mentioning terrorism leads me to believe that some of the witnesses and some of the victims may have said that this guy may have made some statements while he was carrying out the attack”, former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Bobby Chacon said. Police had quickly increased police presence around the city, as London Mayor Sadiq Khan encouraged the public to be calm, but vigilant.
Ida Dahl Nilssen, spokeswoman for the Norwegian criminal police, told AFP that they had been informed of the arrest. Just days before, authorities warned the public to be vigilant in light of attacks by ISIS. Two women and three men were among those injured, police said. Witnesses have also been interviewed, while a full intelligence review was carried out by the police and the security services.
The knife attack came just hours after more armed police were deployed to the streets of London.
Police flooded the streets with extra officers and mobilized counter terror detectives before saying the shocking burst of violence appeared to have been “triggered by mental-health issues”.
After a spate of attacks in Europe this summer, including an Afghan teen refugee’s axe and knife attack in Würzburg, Germany, in July, many Brits had feared the stabbing would prove to be linked to terrorism.
A 40-year-old Brazilian man living in London told CNN a Spanish family stopped and asked him to call an ambulance on Wednesday night.
The brutal attack in the London tourist hub of Russell Square left Darlene Horton, the wife of FSU psychology professor Richard Wagner, dead the day the university’s summer study overseas program ended.
Armed officer attended within five minutes and used a stun gun to subdue the suspect.
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A police forensic officer works at the scene in Russell Square, central London, after a knife attack, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016.
