I haven’t seen a thread about this yet, much to my surprise, but in case you missed it, here is the Wikipedia summary (because I’m too lazy to do my own recap):
I’m guessing several of you did the same doubletake I did. Yes, that’s right - a narwhal tusk. Despite being stabbed three times, a Polish chef at Fishmongers’ Hall pulled a five-foot narwhal tusk off the wall (which was there for decoration) and chased the attacker, pushing him away with it to keep him away from anyone while another bystander sprayed the attacker with a fire extinguisher to disorient him.
While crazy extremists remain a blight on civilised society and I can only express condolences to the families of the two people who died from their stab wounds (and the three others, including Lucasz the chef, who were wounded), one has to marvel at the sheer grit of the general public in this country who up with this sort of shit will not put. Defeating a terrorist with a narwhal tusk is frankly the best thing I’ve seen since the attempted 2007 attack on Glasgow airport, where despite the would-be terrorist driving a jeep filled with flammable gas cylinders and, more importantly, despite the terrorist being literally on fire, a baggage handler saw fit to run up to him anyway and kick him in the groin so hard he tore a tendon in his foot. Because that’s how they roll in Glasgow.
I’m wondering about the end of the confrontation. They had him restrained and disarmed, they had multiple officers on the scene, and then they shot him?
Yes, It was reported that he had a fake explosive vest on. I’m pretty squeamish about shooting rather than capturing alive, even when he had already killed but in those circumstances I think the risks are too great to allow him enough time to trigger it.
The fact that it turned out to fake is irrelevant.
One of the intervening civilians said in an interview that the perp had one knife basically duct-taped to his hand, and I don’t know when that was taken away from him (before or after being shot).
There was also the fake bomb vest the perp was wearing. I’m not sure when they discovered it was fake (probably after the cops shot him).
Bottom line, it’s not clear that they disarmed him before shooting him.
He had a knife taped to at least one hand. Was the taped knife gone before they shot him? The way I read it, they had gotten the un-taped knife away but someone was just restraining the taped knife arm.
I believe it’s standard protocol where there is a bomb vest involved - there’s no guarantee it’s fake without close inspection, and the risks of close inspection (to both public and police) are too great. It’s a horrible necessity as things currently stand.
That does make it more reasonable, and I certainly don’t expect them to determine that it was fake in the heat of the moment. But even if it were a real bomb, they don’t know how it’s triggered. I’d be worried about a deadman’s switch.
-if it is a deadman switch and we shoot him we are fucked
-if it is a deadman switch and we don’t shoot him we are fucked
-if it is a manual trigger and we don’t shoot him we are fucked
-if it is a manual trigger and we shoot him we may not be fucked
The only real chance to not be fucked (assuming a real vest and a real intention to use it) involves shooting the terrorist.
It was also reported that he pulled back his jacket to show the bomb vest, indicating, I suppose, that he was neither subdued nor compliant. Under those circumstances I can understand why he was shot.
