Zakaria Bulhan, a Norwegian national of Somali origin who moved to the United Kingdom in 2002, remains in police custody after the attack in central London on Wednesday night, which left U.S. citizen Darlene Horton, 64, dead and five others injured.
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Darlene Horton was visiting the capital with husband Richard Wagner, who was teaching summer classes, when she was attacked in Russell Square.
Police officers and cleaners tend to the scene of a knife attack in Russell Square on August 4, 2016 in London, England.
The victim, a USA citizen in her 60s, was treated at the scene but pronounced dead a short time later.
Its statement did not identify Wagner’s wife.
Investigators have made “urgent progress” in five strands of work, he said – interviewing the suspect, speaking with his family, witness accounts, address searches and a “full intelligence review” by police and the security service.
The couple had planned to return home to Tallahassee on Thursday.
“There are no words to express our heartache over this awful tragedy”, FSU President John Thrasher said in the statement. “We are shocked that such senseless violence has touched our own FSU family”.
Rowley said the woman who was murdered was American national, while those injured are Australian, American, Israeli and Briton.
But authorities said there was no sign the Norwegian man of Somali origin was radicalised or had terror motives, with the evidence so far pointing to the attack being sparked by mental health problems.
She said she was lucky to be alive after watching the attacker go on to slaughter Horton in front of her eyes.
Two Australians, an Israeli, an American and a British citizen were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries.
“We believe this was a spontaneous attack and that the victims were selected at random”. Initially he said that terrorism was a line of inquiry.
Police received a call about the attack in progress around 10:30 p.m. local time, and within about 10 minutes had arrived on the scene and subdued the attacker. “My prayers are with all the victims and their loved ones”. Two victims remain in the hospital, while others have been discharged.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there is no evidence at all that this man was motivated by Daesh another name for the Islamic State group or similar organizations. “I thought it was a bag snatching. she was not hurt”, he said.
Keen tennis player Horton’s last words were “he’s still here, he’s still here” as she tried to warn others of the attacker before she was found in a pool of blood after being stabbed in the back. Even with the additional armed officers, the vast majority of London’s 31,000 police officers won’t be armed.
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She said: “They had been friends for five years roughly, but when everyone left Graveney they distanced themselves because he was acting odd – [making] weird threats”.
