Sunday October 17, 2021
Police officers guard the scene where MP David Amess was stabbed during constituency surgery, in Leigh-on-Sea, UK [Andrew Couldridge/Reuters]
London (HOL) - The father of the man suspected of knifing a senior Conservative lawmaker to death on Friday said that the attack has left him "traumatized." UK media has revealed that the suspected killer of Sir David Amess, 69, a senior Conservative Member of Parliament of Southend West, is a British national of Somali origin.
Ali Harbi Ali, 25, is the primary suspect in the murder of the UK politician and is the son of Harbi Ali Kullane, who once served as the senior communication advisor to former Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke.
The MP was stabbed as he held a weekly constituency surgery at a Methodist Church in Leigh-on-sea, Essex, in an incident that has left Kullane shocked on why his son decided to end the life of the celebrated politician.
The suspect was nabbed by police at the scene of the attack, who are treating the case as a terrorist attack.
He is currently being held by the police until October 22, after the officers were handed a warrant of further detention under the Terrorism Act at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday, October 16.
Addressing the media in the UK, Kullane confirmed that his son was in custody that officers attached to the anti-terrorist Scotland Yard had visited him.
"I'm feeling very traumatized. It is not something I expected or even dreamt of," Kullane told The Sunday Times on Saturday from his sister's North London home.
Harbi Ali Kullane. CREDIT/ Twitter
Police believe that the suspect acted alone, and he may have been self-radicalized and inspired by Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda- linked Islamists in Somalia.
Already, British officers have conducted searches at three addresses in London which are linked to the suspect.
On the fateful day, the suspect stabbed the Amess several times in the presence of two women before he sat next to the body and waited for the police to arrest him.
Burial plans are ongoing, and on Saturday evening, mourners attended a vigil at a field located near the crime scene.
Amess is amongst the longest-serving politicians in the UK as he was first elected as MP in 1983.
In government, the highest position he ever served was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Portillo for a span of ten years. However, he is known to be more of a backbencher.
Amess is survived by five children and a wife that he married in 1983, the same year he was first voted in as MP.
Somali community leaders in London have condemned the murder of British MP David Amess.