The man accused of hitting a group of pedestrians with his car outside of Parliament in London before crashing into a barricade was identified Wednesday as Salih Khater from Sudan.
The 29-year-old British citizen, who was arrested on suspicions of terrorism as well as suspicion of attempted murder, has reportedly not been cooperating with police after driving a silver Ford Fiesta into a crowd, leaving three injured. Khater was immediately arrested after crashing and has since been in police custody.
Sudanese immigrant Salih Khater named as ‘Westminster terror attacker’ who drove into cyclists and barrier outside parliament https://t.co/4otCYgrTvy via @MetroUK pic.twitter.com/yDClM9cHjk
— Richard HP (@richardhp) August 15, 2018
Police have reportedly searched two addresses in connection with Khater and are expected to search another address Wednesday. He was reportedly known by local police but not by MI5, according to BBC. (RELATED: London Driver Charged With Terrorism After Crash Outside Parliament)
Witnesses say Khater accelerated towards the barrier and that at one point his car was airborne before crashing.
“I don’t know whether he meant to hit the cyclist, they may just have been in the way, but he accelerated hard towards the barrier,” witness Barry Williams told CBS News. Saying the car “actually came off the ground and landed again,” crashing into the barrier. Williams said there was “a lot of smoke.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he believes security needs to be ramped up around Parliament and throughout the city in general.
“We’ve had temporary solutions over the last 18 months, post Westminster, but I think we need a permanent solution to the fact that we now know terrorists will target pedestrians, will target buildings,” he said.
Two of the three pedestrians that were injured by Khater were taken to the hospital for treatment.
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