Westminster terror attack: UK Police constable Keith Palmer was killed when he tried stopping the attacker from entering the British Parliament. (Source: Metropolitan Police)
The unarmed police officer who was killed trying to stop the terror attack on the British Parliament on Wednesday has been identified as 48-year-old Keith Palmer, the Guardian reported. Palmer was a member of the Metropolitan police’s parliamentary and diplomatic protection command for 15 years, and was married with children.
“He was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift and he had every right to expect that would happen,” Acting deputy commissioner of Metropolitan police Mark Rowley was quoted as saying about Palmer.
Met Police pay tribute to the officer killed in the #Westminster attack – PC Keith Palmer, 48, a husband and father pic.twitter.com/jztd0KCVIA
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 22, 2017
Tributes poured in for the police constable, who was stabbed with two knives by the attacker as he tried to stop him from entering Westminster. James Cleverly, a Conservative MP, was one of the first to pay tributes to Keith Palmer, with whom he served in the army.
I’ve known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper. A lovely man, a friend. I’m heartbroken. https://t.co/LgF4rQ7Vmg
— James Cleverly MP (@JamesCleverly) March 22, 2017
Former leader of Labour Party in Commons Ed Miliband also tweeted in solidarity with the victims of the attack and paid his tributes to Palmer saying he “died protecting all of us at Westminster”.
Deep sorrow for victims of today’s attack and families. Thank you to brave responders including police, emergency services, @Tobias_Ellwood.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) March 22, 2017
We all mourn for PC Keith Palmer and send the deepest condolences to his family. He died protecting all of us at Westminster.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) March 22, 2017
According to BBC, Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood – a former Army officer whose brother died in the 2002 Bali terrorist bombing – even attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of Palmer.
Keith Palmer was one of the five killed in the attack on Wednesday after an assailant, who was later shot dead by police, mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and attacked police officers with a knife outside the British Parliament.
“A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can’t believe what I just saw,” Rick Longley, a witness, told AP.
Apart from the deaths of the police officer and the attacker, the three others that were killed were members of the public. Reports suggest that over 40 were injured in the attack which Prime Minister Theresa May described as “sick and depraved”.
According to the Guardian, the injured included three police officers, a group of French schoolchildren , a group of British university students and a Romanian couple. Most of them were injured when the assailant drove his vehicle through Westminster bridge towards the British Parliament.
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