LONDON, (Reuters) – A U.S. woman was killed and five other people injured by a man with suspected mental health issues who went on a rampage with a knife in central London.
Armed police were called late on Wednesday evening after a 19-year-old Norwegian man of Somali origin began attacking people in London’s Russell Square, a park near the site of a 2005 suicide bombing. Police said there was no evidence the attack was terrorism related.
The victim was identified as Darlene Horton, a woman in her 60s who was the wife of a U.S. psychology professor. She was treated at the scene but pronounced dead a short time later.
A British man who was stabbed in the stomach remains in hospital in serious but stable condition, police said. Four others – an American man, a man and a woman from Australia, and an Israeli woman – suffered stab wounds but have been released from hospital.
“All of the work we have done so far increasingly points to this tragic incident as having been triggered by mental health issues,” said London Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley.
