A person accused of wounded two girls with a crossbow within the British metropolis of Leeds on Saturday has died of self -inflicted harm, police stated on Tuesday.
Suspect Owen Lawrence, 38 -year -old, died on the hospital the place he was taken after his arrest on the scene of the assault, police stated about terrorism in A A statementS
The 2 girls, aged 19 and 31, had been severely injured, authorities stated. One was launched from the hospital a day after the assault, however the different remained hospitalized on Tuesday after present process surgical procedure for all times -threatening wounds, they stated.
Police stated they had been nonetheless investigating the motivation for the craze, throughout which witnesses noticed suspects to stroll three miles of pubs and bars recognized regionally as “Operating of Annia” armed with a crossbow and several other air rifles.
The assault appears to be essentially the most in a sequence of violent incidents within the UK within the final years of people that appear to have acquired a fancy mixture of motivations. Some had been enthusiastic about extremist content material on-line, though they didn’t adhere to any ideology.
Final summer season three younger women had been cruelly killed in a piercing assault by Obsessed with violent teenager in Southport. A prosecutor stated in court docket that the suspect has no political or non secular ideology and that his “sole function is to kill.” The younger man had watched a considerable amount of movies and supplies associated to massacres, violence and genocide, authorities say.
Specialists at Radicalization has warned of a rise in indiscriminate acts of violence from one thing like as soon as, extra associated to ideologically pushed terrorists.
The social media account associated to the suspect in Leeds’ assault over the weekend has proven curiosity in mass shootings and white supremacy, and expressed misogynistic views.
Authorities haven’t but determined whether or not to formally announce the incident as a terrorist assault. In keeping with British laws, this can require the discovering that violence was led “with a view to advance a political, non secular, racial or ideological trigger.”
Investigators are reviewing two Fb accounts that police imagine it belonged to suspects. One of many payments was considered by the New York Instances earlier than it was downloaded.
Essentially the most publication, printed shortly earlier than the assault started at 2:45 pm on Saturday, was entitled “Assault Data” and contained photos of weapons that correspond to photographs of objects thrown to the bottom after the assault. It states that the targets might be “college students, nightclubs, pubs for pubs, contributors in otley Run, society, humanity, humanitarian race, neurotypical and law enforcement officials, if I would like.”
Underneath the title “Assault Kind”, the publication is alleged to be “homicide, mass homicide, terrorism, revenge, misogynistic rage, homicide/suicide.”
The Fb person stated he was a political “reactionary” who “studied excessive right concepts” and skim a infamous manifesto shared by the white prime who carried out mass firing in two mosques in New Zealand in 2019. A separate publish refers back to the “nice substitute”. The merciless conspiracy idea that white persons are changed by non-white individuals in Western international locations.
One other recurring matter within the account was the hatred of girls, feminist and political left. A publish on February 15 accused girls of creating the general public “degenerate” by selecting the flawed companions. Per week later, one other publish claims that relationship apps like Tinder are “supposed for ladies solely”.
The Fb profile was printed earlier than the assault and photograph of the profile confirmed that an individual who’s believed to be the suspect holding a baseball bat and wears a T -shirt just like the one worn by one of many perpetrators of the Excessive Faculty in Columbine since 1999.
Mass shootings in America additionally paid consideration to the account.
In 2024, the person shared a video associated to a 2017 weapon at a grocery store in Pennsylvania, with the inscription: “RIP Brother, recognized with you.”
Different assaults mentioned on the Fb web page included one geared toward Jews and Muslims in Germany in 2019 and slaughtering in Norway in 2011 by White Supreme Anders Anders Braivik.
A number of publications have hinted on the Crusades, utilizing the Latin phrase “Deus vult”-“God needs it”-which has been utilized by Christian armies and has since been accepted by far-right teams. In November 2023, the person posted a photograph of himself, performing what he appears to be a Nazi greeting.
However on February 20 this 12 months, the identical account writes that it doesn’t determine with the far -right ideologies and solely “flirts with their concepts.”
A number of different publications The account refers to well being and effectively -being, saying that he’s a restorative drug addict who’s current at nameless drug encounters.
