An American woman was killed and injured five other people injured in a stabbing attack in the British capital, police said Thursday.
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A 19-year old suspect is hospitalized and under surveillance in relation to the incident, London Metropolitan Police says; a stun gun was used against the suspect.
Detectives from the force’s murder and terrorism squads interviewed the suspect, his family and witnesses, and searched several properties, but found no evidence of radicalization, he said. Police later confirmed that the woman who was fatally stabbed was an American citizen.
He later added that the investigation “increasingly points to mental health issues”.
“We are keeping an open mind regarding the motive, and terrorism remains one line of inquiry being explored”, Rowley said.
Not many details have been released about the suspect but this is what we know so far.
A forensic tent had been erected on the pavement, the scene of the attack, the Reuters reporter said.
Emergency services were called to Russell Square shortly after 10.30pm to reports of a man armed with a knife assaulting people.
She said: “I was just trying to console her – I was trying to help her”.
The mayor said police were seeking “to establish the full facts including motives” for the attack and urged the city’s residents to stay calm but alert. He is being held at a local hospital, police said.
Another woman and four men were treated in hospital, though three of them were later discharged.
The attack also came on a day Scotland Yard announced that 600 additional armed officers will be deployed around London’s major sites, including British Museum, as part of anti-terror plans in the wake of ISIS attacks in Europe, and days after Metropolitan Police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said a terror attack in the United Kingdom was a case of “when, not if”.
A subway train travelling 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.
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Police put more officers on London streets after the incident, which came just days after authorities warned the public to be vigilant in light of attacks inspired by the Islamic State group elsewhere in Europe.
