A minute’s silence was yesterday held in Reading, England, to remember the three people killed in a terror attack on Saturday, as police officers continued to question the only suspect on suspicion of murder.
Khairi Saadallah, the 25-year-old Libyan refugee held over the stabbings in Forbury Gardens near the town center, was on MI5’s radar in the middle of last year.
Witnesses described horrific scenes at the park, which is popular with families, especially amid COVID-19 lockdown measures. Thames Valley police said they had detained and arrested the suspect within five minutes of the first call at 6:56pm.
Photo: AP
British Home Secretary Priti Patel yesterday visited Reading to meet officers investigating the incident, as well as those who intervened in the attack as it unfolded.
British Minister of State for Security James Brokenshire confirmed there would be no change to the UK’s terror threat level.
Reading Mayor David Stevens and leader of Reading Council Jason Brock invited the people of the town to hold a minute’s silence at 10am in memory of the victims.
“Reading is a very close-knit community and we’re very united, we’re very strong and it’s very important we don’t allow an act of terror to divide us as we move forward,” Brock said.
Among the three people killed was a 36-year-old secondary-school teacher, James Furlong, 36.
Students at the Holt school in Wokingham, where Furlong was head of history, government and politics, lighted candles and laid flowers in memory of their teacher.
Former pupil Molly Collins, who left the school in 2017, told the BBC Radio 4 Today program: “He was such a loved teacher. I can’t find anyone that ever had a bad word to say about him, and to hear that it was him is just so, so sad.
“He was so passionate and enthusiastic about history and about learning, and anything that was boring, anything you didn’t find interesting, he would make it interesting.”
Saadallah is understood to have been under investigation as a person who might travel abroad “for extremist reasons,” but sources indicated the inquiry was closed relatively quickly without any action taken as no genuine threat or immediate risk was identified.
Intelligence agencies believe he had mental health problems, the sources said.
There was no immediate evidence the Reading attack was underpinned by an allegiance to Islamic State or al-Qaeda, although investigations are ongoing.
A US-born man was another one of the victims: Joe Ritchie-Bennett, 39, grew up in Philadelphia, but moved to England about 15 years ago, his father, Robert Ritchie, told US media.
Robert Ritchie told reporters his son worked for a law firm in London before taking a job about 10 years ago at a Dutch pharmaceutical company with British headquarters in Reading, where the stabbing attack took place.
Joe Ritchie-Bennett comes from a family of police officers. Robert Ritchie is a retired chief inspector. His mother is a retired police officer, as is the wife of his brother, Robert.
“I love him. I always have. I always will,” his brother told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “He was a great guy. He was four years younger than me. I had a paper route at 12 and he helped me every day. I used to buy him something every two weeks to thank him.
Joe Ritchie-Bennett was reportedly friends with Furlong.
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