- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
POLICE have launched a manhunt after a “masked gunman” entered the Seven Kings Mosque last night (9).
Brave worshippers forced the man out of the building and stopped him from getting back inside.
A gunshot was heard after he was ushered out of the building.
No injuries or damages were caused and police officials said they did not believe it was terrorism-related.
Police believe the incident “may have stemmed from an earlier incident in the street” near to the mosque.
Ibraheem Hussain, 19, a worshipper, told the BBC that the gunshot was heard about half an hour after prayers began.
“We were upstairs in the classrooms and about 30 minutes into the night prayer a large noise went off”, he said. “It sounded like a firework or maybe something heavy had been dropped, so no-one really thought anything of it.
“But then someone said it was a gunshot and that someone had come into the mosque and he had a firearm on him. The managers had seen him. He was masked and acting suspicious.”
No arrests have been made.
Taking to Twitter, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was “relieved nobody was injured in the incident.”
Khan wrote: “Everyone should be free to practice their faith free from danger and fear. An increased police presence remains on the scene.”
In a statement shared on Twitter, the mosque’s imam Mufti Suhai said they were “yet to establish the motive or all the facts surrounding the incident.”
