A weird element of this attack is the reporting that the captured attacker said "I want to kill more Muslims". Maybe this will be cleared up as more facts are released, but it looks odd on it's face. The van that was used was rented in Wales. Reportedly, 3 men were involved in the attack. The captured man was the driver. I haven't seen any report of why the 3 men were not able to escape the scene in the van. Renting the van suggests that it was their plan to escape/not be caught. There are no reports yet of other weapons in the possession of the driver. According to reports, members of the mosque were able to detain the driver. Obviously, that means either the attackers had to leave the vehicle because it became damaged, or the victims forced the men out of the vehicle somehow. It seems likely that the driver was trying to escape the victims (like the other two attackers did). I'm having a hard time figuring out when it would make sense for him to be saying "I want to kill more Muslims".
It hasn't been reported that any of the attackers continued to attack people once they left the van.
Another oddity is that I saw a video where, essentially, mosque members were interviewing each other in front the cameras, making the case that the captured man wasn't drunk, and wasn't mentally ill. What made this odd is there was no journalist asking those questions. It was like they were responding to a narrative before the narrative could even take root in the media.
No group has claimed credit for the attack, and the right wing National Front in Wales has denied any association with the captured attacker.
The Guardian interviewed the driver's neighbours, who are Muslim, but they simply painted the attacker as a loudmouth separated/divorced man who often yelled at his wife and kids. No history of conflict with his neighbours.
This is an odd story. More to come on this one for sure.
It hasn't been reported that any of the attackers continued to attack people once they left the van.
Another oddity is that I saw a video where, essentially, mosque members were interviewing each other in front the cameras, making the case that the captured man wasn't drunk, and wasn't mentally ill. What made this odd is there was no journalist asking those questions. It was like they were responding to a narrative before the narrative could even take root in the media.
No group has claimed credit for the attack, and the right wing National Front in Wales has denied any association with the captured attacker.
The Guardian interviewed the driver's neighbours, who are Muslim, but they simply painted the attacker as a loudmouth separated/divorced man who often yelled at his wife and kids. No history of conflict with his neighbours.
This is an odd story. More to come on this one for sure.
