London: A British lawmaker was stabbed to death in a church on Friday by an assailant who lunged at him during a meeting with voters from his constituency, a killing police are investigating as a possible terrorist attack.
David Amess (69) from PM Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party, was knifed repeatedly in the attack at about midday in the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, east of London.
A 25-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder, and detectives said specialist counter-terrorism officers from the London police were leading their initial investigation. Politicians described the attack as an assault on democracy.
“David was a man who believed passionately in this country and in its future and we have lost today a fine public servant and a much loved friend and colleague,” said Johnson, who rushed back to London from the west of England after the news broke. The police swooped on the church and paramedics fought to save the lawmaker’s life on the floor of the church.