Europe|U.K. Crossbow Attack Suspect Voiced Racist and Misogynist Views
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/world/europe/uk-crossbow-attack-suspect.html
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The British police said a man accused of an attack on the weekend in Leeds died from a self-inflicted injury. Investigators are reviewing two Facebook accounts associated with him.
April 29, 2025, 2:00 p.m. ET
A man accused of wounding two women with a crossbow in the British city of Leeds on Saturday has died of a self-inflicted injury, the police said on Tuesday.
The suspect, Owen Lawrence, 38, died in the hospital where he was taken after his arrest at the scene of the attack, the counterterrorism police said in a statement.
The two women, ages 19 and 31, were seriously injured, the authorities said. One was released from the hospital a day after the attack, but the other remained hospitalized on Tuesday after undergoing surgery for life-threatening wounds, they said.
The police said they were still investigating the motivation for the rampage, during which witnesses saw the suspect walking along a three-mile stretch of pubs and bars, known locally as the “Otley Run,” armed with a crossbow and several air rifles.
The attack appeared to be the latest in a series of violent incidents in Britain in recent years by individuals appearing to harbor a complex mix of motivations. Some showed an interest in extremist content online, though they did not adhere to a single ideology.
Last summer, three young girls were brutally murdered in a stabbing attack by a violence-obsessed teenager in Southport. A prosecutor said in court that the suspect had no political or religious ideology and that his “only purpose was to kill.” The young man had viewed a large quantity of videos and material relating to mass murder, violence and genocide, the authorities say.
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