According to the Associated Press, only one person was killed in the attack while five others were injured.
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Blockade line is seen near the attack site in central Russell Square in London, Britain, Aug. 3, 2016.
Police said there was no evidence the attack was terrorism related and evidence to date pointed to mental health issues sparking a “spontaneous” knife attack on strangers selected at random.
Darlene Horton, the wife of Richard Wagner, was killed the day the university’s summer study overseas program ended.Horton, 64, was pronounced dead at the scene, London police said.Wagner was teaching in the summer study overseas program.
The woman who died in a knife attack in central London was a US citizen, police said Thursday.
Five others were injured in the stabbing, two of whom remain hospitalized.
Police officers used a stun gun to subdue the 19-year-old suspect at the scene of the stabbings late Wednesday, among busy streets lined with hotels close to the British Museum. Police say mental health issues are a significant factor.
Rowley said the attacker was a Norwegian citizen of Somali ancestry, but that his background did not appear to be “relevant to the motivation for his actions”.
The Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry said it appointed a liaison officer to assist in the case, adding the suspect emigrated from Norway to the United Kingdom 2002.
Neighbors in south London’s Tooting area, where Bulhan lives with his mother and siblings, said they were shocked to learn he had been accused of the crime. “We came around the corner and there were armed police everywhere … a massive police presence … and a corpse lying in the street covered in a blanket”, the man, who gave his name as Paul, said.
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Shyam Sanghani, who runs a shop opposite the scene of the attack, told BBC: “We had more police announced yesterday and then this today, it’s scary”. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said, “Police have spoken to him and are seeking to establish the full facts including motives for this attack”.
