“Early indications however showed that mental health was a “significant factor” in the attack, according to Scotland Yard”.
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But within hours of Bulhan’s arrest police said they had found no evidence of radicalization or links to terrorism.
The unnamed woman – an American national – died in the attack while four others including a British man, an American man, an Australian man, an Australian woman and an Israeli woman were injured and needed hospital treatment. Mr. Rowley said the investigation indicates the attacker had “mental health issues” and “selected [victims] at random”.
The couple had planned to fly home to Tallahassee the next day.
A subway train traveling between King’s Cross and Russell Square was targeted by a suicide bomber in the terror attacks on the London transport system of July 2005, and a bomb was detonated on a double-decker bus in nearby Tavistock Square.
A man who attacked passengers at a London underground train station in December was jailed for life earlier this month. The unidentified murder suspect is a 19-year-old Norwegian national of Somali descent.
University president John Thrasher said: “There are no words to express our heartache over this awful tragedy”.
The BBC quoted a witness who saw the man being chased and Tasered.
The 19-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released, was subdue by police and arrested at the scene of the stabbings late Wednesday.
A British man with a stab wound to his stomach remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition.
Manuel Simo, 32, who works in the area said that the suspect had been stabbing people randomly. The stabbings anxious many who have already been on edge due to prior terrorist attacks in the area and throughout Europe.
“I urge all Londoners to remain calm and vigilant”.
London police’s counter-terror chief Mark Rowley said there would be “an increased presence on the streets” of the capital on Thursday, including armed officers – an unusual sight in Britain.
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The police were doing an incredibly hard job, the mayor said, adding that the safety of Londoners was his “number one priority”.
