Neighbours: Alleged mosque attacker made anti-Muslim slurs
LONDON — Neighbours and acquaintances described the man who allegedly attacked a group of Muslim worshippers as an unemployed lout who was drinking heavily and making anti-Muslim remarks in the days before the attack — details to be closely examined as the investigation widened Tuesday.
The attack unfolded Monday when the alleged assailant, identified by British media as 47-year-old Darren Osborne, drove a rental van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in the north London neighbourhood of Finsbury Park, an area with a significant Muslim population. The larger Finsbury Park Mosque, which was once associated with several extremist preachers before it was shut down and reformed, is located nearby. Nine people were injured in the attack.
One man also died after slipping outside the Muslim Welfare House as evening prayers concluded for the holy month of Ramadan. Makram Ali, 51, died at the scene in his daughter’s arms. She told neighbours that the van had “run over his legs.”
Edward Gardiner, who lives in the alleged assailant’s neighbourhood outside the Welsh capital of Cardiff some 150 miles from where the attack occurred, said he called police early Sunday morning to report a man who appeared to be drunk sprawled inside a parked rental van. He said the man appeared to be sleeping across the vehicle’s front three seats with the door open. On Saturday, Osborne had been thrown out of the Hollybush pub after drinking heavily and getting into an argument.