Trump Praises ‘Incredible’ People Who Tackled London Bridge Terrorist

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary General, Jens Stol
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Victoria Friedman

President Donald Trump has praised the “incredible” people who intervened and stopped London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan.

During a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in London on Tuesday, President Trump said: “I was very proud of those people who grabbed him and did such a good job between the fire extinguishers and whatever else. It was an amazing job they did.

“It’s a terrible thing, and I know it’s an act of terrorism. It’s been declared an act of terrorism, radical Islamic terrorism… The way they stepped up, to me, there was something very special,” he added.

President Trump arrived in the United Kingdom on Monday night for a three-day visit to mark the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Just three days before on Friday, convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, fatally stabbed two people during an extremist rehabilitation session and injuring three others before passers-by stopped the terrorist on London Bridge with fire extinguishers and a four-foot-long narwhal tusk. Another then held him down until police arrived. Armed officers shot Khan twice, dead.

In one story of heroism on that day, Polish porter Lukasz Koczocik had grabbed the whale’s tooth which was on display at his workplace in Fishmongers’ Hall when he heard screams above and rushed upstairs to tackle the terrorist. Khan stabbed Mr Koczocik five times during the attack.

The two fatalities were named as Cambridge alumni Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, who were working with Khan as part of the university’s Learning Together deradicalisation programme.

Khan and eight other accomplices of the terror cell known as the Nine Lions were were convicted in 2012 of the 2010 plots to attack the London Stock Exchange, bomb pubs in Stoke, and form a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.

Khan had initially been sentenced to an IPP — an indeterminate sentence for public protection — but the Court of Appeals overturned it. Handed a 16-year fixed term sentence instead, he was released halfway through, as per British judicial standards, in December 2018.

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