A Polish kitchen porter who had a one-on-one fight with London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan on Tuesday said he acted on instinct by tackling him with a stick.
Lukasz, who only wanted to give his first name, said he was recovering from stab wounds and coming to terms with the incident.
Khan, a terror convict released from prison on license, killed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, and wounded three others in a knife attack on Friday last week that started in the Fishmongers’ Hall, the headquarters of one of London’s historic trade guilds.
He moved on to the bridge where armed police shot him dead, five minutes after being alerted.
In a statement issued through London’s Metropolitan Police, Lukasz described the attack as an “unimaginable” tragedy.
“I and several others tried to stop a man from attacking people inside the building,” he said. “I did this using a pole I found. Someone else was holding a narwhal tusk.”
“When the attack happened, I acted instinctively. I am now coming to terms with the whole traumatic incident,” he said.
He sent his condolences to everyone affected by the “sad and pointless” attack.
Commodore Toby Williamson, the chief executive of the Fishmongers’ Hall, told the BBC that Lukasz heard a scream, and as a first aider, went toward the noise.
“Lukasz pulls off the wall this long stick. He charges towards the bad guy and he impacts him on the chest,” Williamson said.
However, it had no effect as Khan had strapped on a hoax explosive device.
“But he’s buying time. He allows others to escape, to move to adjacent rooms,” Williamson said.
“At that point, he’s got about a one-minute, one-on-one straight combat. He [Khan] works his way up Lukasz’s pole, slashing with this knife and he takes five wounds to his left side,” he said.
“It’s pretty gruesome,” Williamson added.
Others joined in and, outnumbered, Khan tried to run outside, but was trapped.
Khan went into the reception and the cloakroom before a showdown in the entrance hall.
When Khan got outside, “the first one after him is Lukasz, shouting at everyone to get out of the way, get back,” Williamson said. “Lukasz is losing strength in his left side at this point — but his job is done.”
After people pinned Khan down, police arrived and shot and killed him.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,