Conservative lawmaker David Amess, 69, named in media as victim in attack during regular meeting with constituents in southeast England; suspect arrested
British MP David Amess was killed Friday after being stabbed several times by an assailant during an event in his local constituency in southeast England, UK media reported.
Local police did not name Amess but confirmed that officers “were called to reports of a stabbing” shortly after 12:05 p.m. and later announced that the victim had died.
Essex Police did not name the dead man, but the stabbing victim was widely named as Conservative lawmaker David Amess, 69.
In January 2000, Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones was injured and his assistant killed by a man wielding a ceremonial sword at a constituency surgery in Cheltenham, western England.
Police said a man has been arrested and is being held on suspicion of murder.
“We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident and do not believe there is an ongoing threat to the wider public,” police said.
Amess was holding his regular weekly meeting with constituents at the Belfairs Methodist Church, in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea.
He had advertised the event on his official Twitter account.
Conservative councilor and former Southend mayor John Lamb, who was at the scene, told local newspaper the Southend Echo: “All we know is that David has been stabbed several times.
Amess had been a member of Parliament for Southend West, which includes Leigh-on-Sea, since 1997, but has been a lawmaker since 1983. He is a well-liked MP, best known for his ceaseless campaign to have Southend declared a city. He also campaigned relentlessly for a statue to be built in honor of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.
There was no immediate comment on the stabbing from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was leading an away-day for senior ministers in the west of England.
But David Cameron, one of his Tory predecessors in Downing Street, said: “Very alarming and worrying news reports coming from Leigh-on-Sea.
“My thoughts and prayers are with Sir David Amess and his family.”
Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer called the news “horrific and deeply shocking”.
An eye-witness, identified only as Anthony, told radio station LBC that the scene was “completely and utterly swamped by police, ambulance, armed police.
“I saw someone get taken out the building, put into the back of a police car. Apparently, he was stabbed quite a few times.”
Other British MPs have been attacked at similar constituency events, including Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016 in the run-up to the Brexit referendum. This photo taken on June 18, 2016 shows flowers and tributes laid in remembrance against a photograph of slain Labour MP Jo Cox in Parliament Square, central London, June 18, 2016. (AFP Photo/Ben Stansall)
The Jo Cox Foundation, which was set up in her memory, tweeted that it was “horrified to hear the news of the attack on Sir David Amess MP.
“We are thinking of him, his family and loved ones at this distressing time,” it added.
Labour MP Stephen Timms was stabbed multiple times during an event in 2010, but recovered from potentially life-threatening injuries and is still an MP.
Timms said he was “appalled” at the latest attack.
Originally published in Times of Israel, https://www.timesofisrael.com/british-politician-stabbed-multiple-times-during-meeting-at-church/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2021-10-15&utm_medium=email
