A Suspicious Murder in Britain
June 16, 2016
PUT on your thinking caps if you wade into reports about the murder of Jo Cox, the British Labour MP who was shot and stabbed on the street by a man who shouted “Britain First.”
Both sides suspended campaigning on whether Britain should leave the European Union after a lawmaker was attacked in her district.
Jo Cox, a member of the opposition Labour Party, was hospitalized in a critical condition, with the Press Association reporting she had been shot twice Thursday in West Yorkshire, northern England. Local police said they had arrested a 52-year-old man in the area. It was unclear if the incident was related to the June 23 referendum. [Bloomberg.com]
Unclear, eh? Here is the alleged murderer, 53-year-old Tommy Mair:
Who heard him yell “Britain First” and did that person (or persons) possess a cell phone? Where are the likely video recordings of her murder on the street? According to the police, there were many witnesses. That should mean that very soon we should have more than photos of high heels in the middle of the sidewalk to confirm this shocking murder of the highly photogenic and athletic MP, a socialist who opposed leaving the EU. Cox, who was said to be fond of mountain climbing and running, was allegedly knocked to the ground by the awkward-looking, zealously patriotic loner before she was shot and lay there helplessly as the assailant kicked her.
“He was kicking her and he was pulling her by her hair. A very courageous man from the dry cleaners tried to restrain him and he couldn’t stop him because all of a sudden he pulled a gun,” he told the Press Association. “She was a standing still target for him when he shot her. [Source.]
Apparently, none of the many witnesses stopped the 53-year-old man during the attack or even when he walked away.
[Update, 6/17/2016: Here is more on the killing today with the brother of the suspect saying he was mentally ill.
“Mair’s brother Scott, 50, said: ‘He has a history of mental illness, but he has had help. My brother is not violent and is not all that political. I don’t even know who he votes for.'”
And: “Friends said Mair had never shown any interest in politics or the EU referendum. Finding solace through volunteer work as a gardener, he was regarded as a quiet but friendly loner by neighbours on the estate on a hill above the murder scene where he had lived with grandmother Helen Mair, who had brought him up, until she died in 1996.”
And another relative said, “‘He’s never expressed any views about Britain, or politics or racist tendencies. I’m mixed race and I’m his half-brother, we got on well. He never married. The only time I remember him having a girlfriend was as a young man, but a mate stole her off him. He said that put him off [women] for life.’
He added: ‘It feels like a dream that I want to wake up from. I couldn’t believe it when I saw a picture of him on the news in handcuffs.'”]
