London Bridge attack: Man with narwhal whale tusk among heroes who tackled terrorist
Written by News on 30/11/2019
One of the heroes who tackled the London Bridge terrorist was armed with a whale tusk, while another fought him off with a fire extinguisher.
Several civilians bravely intervened to drag attacker Usman Khan to the ground near Fishmongers’ Hall on Friday, working together to restrain him before he was shot dead by police.
Details are starting to emerge about those who chased and disarmed the 28-year-old, who was a convicted terrorist previously jailed over a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange.
One of the most eye-catching features of the public response to the rampage, which left two people dead and another three injured, was the tusk from a narwhal.
Witnesses said the long pointed tooth was seized from the wall of Fishmongers’ Hall by a man who ran after Khan and used it to fend him off while two others charged in.
Amy Coop said on Twitter: “A guy who was with us at Fishmongers’ Hall took a five-foot narwhal tusk from the wall and went out to confront the attacker.”
She added: “We were trying to help victims inside but that man’s a hero.”
Khan is thought to have begun his attack inside the hall before rushing outside.
The man with the tusk has been identified by The Times as a chef from Poland called Lukasz, who the newspaper reports worked in the kitchen at the venue.
Another of those who helped drag Khan to the ground before armed police arrived on the scene was 24-year-old tour company manager Thomas Gray.
Mr Gray said he tried to force Khan to release one of the knives he was carrying by stamping on his wrist, but both blades appeared to be taped to his hands.
He added: “I stamped on his left wrist while someone else smacked his hand on the ground and then kicked one of the knives away. I went to pick up the knife when I heard a cop say ‘he has got a bomb’.”
Mr Gray said he hid behind a school bus “full of kids” before hearing “two or three” shots fired by police, which hit the attacker before he “hit the deck”.
Despite his brave intervention, Mr Gray has insisted that he is not a hero, saying: “I did what any Londoner would do and tried to put a stop to it.”
Tour guide Stevie Hurst, 32, also ran towards Khan on London Bridge, having been driving over the river at the time.
He told The Telegraph how he kicked Khan in the head after he was forced to the ground.
“We wanted to make sure we got the knife away from him as quickly as possible,” he said.
“We wanted to kick him. Everyone was shouting. The knife flew away. The moment they rolled him over off his chest, they saw he had a bomb vest.
“The police arrived so quickly. They told us ‘get the f*** back’, they had rifles. They put three rounds into him.”
Footage from the scene shows the man with the fire extinguisher spraying it at Khan to force him to the ground.
Other images show another bystander, who Sky News understands to be a plain-clothes police officer, carrying a large knife away from the scene.
Twitter user @jcdiet took a picture of the man with the blade and wrote: “Shout out to this brave man on London Bridge who managed to get the knife away from the psycho.”
George Robarts also tweeted a photo and said: “This man walking behind us on the other side of London Bridge when the attack began.
“He ran through traffic and jumped the central partition to tackle the attacker with several others.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told Sky News he was “in awe” of those who tackled the terrorist.
He told Sophy Ridge On Saturday: “We saw Londoners, ordinary citizens, acting in an extraordinary way.
“People who should be following the advice and running away for their own safety, who should be fleeing from danger, doing the opposite and running towards danger.”
The mayor added: “I am in awe of them and I think over the next few days and weeks they need to be properly recognised for their bravery.”
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