Image Credit: Reuters
A lawmaker in Boris Johnson's Conservative Party has been stabbed to death in an Essex Church on Friday in an incident that is being investigated for potential links to Islamic terorrism. David Amess, 69, was attacked repeatedly by a male assailant while he was meeting constituents.
The Metropolitan Police have released an official statement delineating the issue as a 'terrorist incident's and that it may have links to Islamic extremism. A 25-year-old man, allegedly of British-Somali heritage, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder, and detectives said specialist counter-terrorism officers were leading the initial investigation.
This is the second fatal attack on a British lawmaker in the constituency in the last five years, which has prompted questions about the safety of politicians. Boris Johnson decried the attack and said that Britain had "lost today a fine public servant and a much loved friend and colleague." Amess was one of the longest-serving lawmakers in the country and well-liked by his constituents.
"Questions are rightly being asked about the safety of our country's elected representatives," Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said, adding she had asked police to review lawmakers' security. Other politicians condemned the attack as an attack on the foundations of democracy itself.