A 19-year-old originally from Norway has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a stabbing spree in London’s Russell Square left one person dead and five others injured.
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Florida State University president John Thrasher said: “There are no words to express our heartache over this bad tragedy”. “We are shocked that such senseless violence has touched our own FSU family”.
Horton was married to Florida State University psychology professor Richard Wagner, who was teaching a summer session in London for the university.
Two Sheffield tourists have described the shocking scene after a woman was knifed to death in London’s Russell Square.
Zakaria Bulhan, 19, is accused of murdering retired teacher Darlene Horton, 64, and the attempted murder of two women and three men. A spokesperson said: “We will assist the British police in the normal manner, with information and any requests they might have in their investigation”.
The woman killed in a stabbing attack in London was a USA citizen and one of the injured was an Israeli, police told reporters. Counter-terrorism officers are supporting the investigation into the attack, although Scotland Yard said it was focusing its lines of inquiry on mental health.
“In some of our big iconic locations, we’ve already got armed patrols – if you look at Parliament, Downing Street – so it’s not entirely new”, Metropolitan Police chief Bernard Hogan-Howe said Wednesday. The attacker injured five other people, all but one of them now out of the hospital.
Scotland Yard said no evidence has been found of radicalisation or anything to suggest the attack was “in any way motivated by terrorism”.
Five other people were injured – an American man, Australian man and woman, Israeli woman and British man.
London’s Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital, called for vigilance and urged Londoners to report anything suspicious to the police, who increased their presence in the capital.
However, local resident Paul O Geibheannaigh, who witnessed the aftermath of last night’s stabbing, said he did not think security forces could prevent such incidents. In January, mentally ill Muhiddin Mire tried to behead a London Underground passenger, shouting that he was doing it “for Syria”.
Armed officers responded to Wednesdays stabbings, but didnt fire any shots.
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He went on: “The moment the police arrived, they asked them if the man had been shouting”. Police said there was no evidence the attack was terrorism related. He was a nice guy who loved playing football, very athletic.
