A person accused of wounding two girls with a crossbow within the British metropolis of Leeds on Saturday has died of a self-inflicted harm, the police mentioned on Tuesday.
The suspect, Owen Lawrence, 38, died within the hospital the place he was taken after his arrest on the scene of the assault, the counterterrorism police mentioned in a statement.
The 2 girls, ages 19 and 31, have been critically injured, the authorities mentioned. One was launched from the hospital a day after the assault, however the different remained hospitalized on Tuesday after present process surgical procedure for life-threatening wounds, they mentioned.
The police mentioned they have been nonetheless investigating the motivation for the rampage, throughout which witnesses noticed the suspect strolling alongside a three-mile stretch of pubs and bars, identified domestically because the “Otley Run,” armed with a crossbow and several other air rifles.
The assault seemed to be the most recent in a collection of violent incidents in Britain in recent times by people showing to harbor a posh mixture of motivations. Some confirmed an curiosity in extremist content material on-line, although they didn’t adhere to a single ideology.
Final summer time, three younger ladies have been brutally murdered in a stabbing assault by a violence-obsessed teenager in Southport. A prosecutor mentioned in court docket that the suspect had no political or non secular ideology and that his “solely function was to kill.” The younger man had considered a big amount of movies and materials regarding mass homicide, violence and genocide, the authorities say.
Specialists in radicalization have warned of an increase in indiscriminate acts of violence of a kind as soon as largely related to ideologically pushed terrorists.
A social media account related to the suspect within the Leeds assault on the weekend indicated an curiosity in mass shootings and in white supremacy, and voiced misogynistic views.
The authorities haven’t but determined whether or not to formally declare the incident a terrorist assault. Beneath British regulation, that might require a discovering that the violence have been waged “for the aim of advancing a political, non secular, racial or ideological trigger.”
Investigators are reviewing two Fb accounts that the police imagine belonged to the suspect. One of many accounts was considered by The New York Occasions earlier than it was taken down.
The newest publish, printed shortly earlier than the assault started at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, was titled “assault data” and contained pictures of weapons that matched photographs of things discarded on the bottom following the assault. It mentioned the targets could be “college students, evening membership goers, pub crawlers, Otley Run members, society, humanity, humanitarian race, neurotypicals and police, if I have to.”
Beneath the heading “assault sort,” the publish mentioned it was a “spree killing, mass homicide, terrorism, revenge, misogynistic rage, murder/suicide.”
The Fb consumer mentioned he was a political “reactionary” who had “explored far proper concepts” and had learn a infamous manifesto shared by the white supremacist who carried out mass shootings at two New Zealand mosques in 2019. A separate publish referred to “the nice alternative,” a far-right conspiracy idea that white individuals are being changed by nonwhites in Western nations.
One other recurring theme on the account was a hatred of ladies, feminists and the political left. A Feb. 15 publish accused girls of inflicting society to “degenerate” by selecting the mistaken companions. Every week later, one other publish claimed that courting apps like Tinder have been “designed for ladies solely.”
The Fb account had been made public earlier than the assault and the profile image confirmed a person believed to be the suspect holding a baseball bat and sporting a T-shirt just like one worn by one of many perpetrators of the 1999 Columbine Excessive Faculty bloodbath.
Mass shootings in America additionally drew consideration on the account.
In 2024 the consumer shared a video regarding a 2017 gunman at a grocery store in Pennsylvania, with the caption: “R.I.P. brother, recognized with you a large number.”
Different assaults mentioned on the Fb web page included one concentrating on Jews and Muslims in Germany in 2019 and the 2011 Norway bloodbath by the white supremacist Anders Breivik.
A number of posts alluded to the Crusades, utilizing the Latin phrase “Deus vult” — “God wills it” — which was utilized by Christian armies and has since been adopted by far-right teams. In November 2023, the person posted a photograph of himself performing what seems to be a Nazi salute.
However on Feb. 20 this yr, the identical account wrote that he didn’t establish with far-right ideologies and had solely “flirted with their concepts a bit.”
A number of different posts account made reference to well being and well-being, saying he was a recovering drug addict who attended Narcotics Nameless conferences.
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