Khalid Masood Identified as London Parliament Attacker

LONDON — The knife-wielding terrorist who killed an American tourist and three others outside the U.K. Parliament was British-born and previously investigated for "violent extremism," officials said Thursday.

Police identified the suspect as Khalid Masood, 52, on Thursday. Authorities said Masood was born in Kent and detectives believe he was most recently living in the West Midlands. He was known by a number of aliases, police said.

Masood was known to security services as "a peripheral figure" and "was not part of the current intelligence picture," Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons on Thursday.

Police also said Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there were no prior intelligence reports indicating his intent to carry out the terror attack.

Masood was known to police for a range of previous convictions, they said, including for assaults, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses.

His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his most recent was in December 2003 for possession of a knife. He was never convicted of any terror-related offenses.

Kurt Cochran, 54, who lives in Utah, was among the three slain, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Eric Hawkins told NBC News. His wife Melissa, whose parents are currently serving as missionaries in London, was also injured. They were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.

The others killed were a police officer, a mother-of-two who was hit by a bus as she ran from the attack, and a 75-year-old man who had been receiving medical treatment at a hospital. Police said the elderly man died Thursday night after life support was withdrawn.

The terrorist plowed a 4x4 rental vehicle into people walking on Westminster Bridge before crashing it into a railing outside the House of Commons. He later fatally stabbed the cop before being gunned down by armed



officers.

Police said earlier Thursday afternoon that five people remained in critical condition after the attack, with two sustaining life-threatening injuries.

"It is still believed that this attacker acted alone and the police have no reason to believe that are imminent further attacks on the public," May said, just yards from Wednesday's carnage.

However, police overnight raided at least six properties in cities including Birmingham — where the culprit's vehicle was rented from Enterprise — and London, making eight arrests.

"Clearly our investigation is ongoing … and is focused on his motivation, his preparation and associates," Metropolitan Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters early Thursday.

Police said later Thursday that those arrested overnight included a 39-year-old woman in east London, a 21-year-old woman and 23-year-old man in Birmingham, a 26-year-old woman and three men aged 28, 27, and 26 at a separate address in Birmingham.

An eighth person, a 58-year-old man, was arrested Thursday morning at another address in Birmingham, police said. All eight were taken into custody on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts, police said.

A home raided in Birmingham was one where Masood lived until late last year, a neighbor told the AP. Shown a photo of him, Iwona Romek said "that is 100 percent" the man who lived next door to her for about five months.

Romek said Masood had a wife and child of about 6, and would walk the child to school. He rarely left in the evening.

"He seemed like a normal family man who liked to take care of his garden," she said. But one day she saw him packing their belongings in a black van he bought to replace a red Fiat, and then they were gone.

Amaq, the media unit of ISIS, released a statement describing the London attacker as "a soldier of the Islamic State" although it cited no evidence for the claim.