Chef tackles terrorist with 5ft narwhal tusk in London Bridge attack

A Polish chef called Lukasz, who armed himself with a 5-foot narwhal tusk from the Fishmongers’ Hall, was among those that thwarted the rampage of terrorist Usman Khan in London last week.

Lukasz used a replica narwhal tusk to fend off Khan

Lukasz, who was working in the basement of the Fishmongers’ Hall when Khan carried out his deadly attack, rushed to help stop the terrorist. The Sun also reports that a kitchen porter named Mohammed also helped to pin the terrorist down, calmly returning to work after assisting the police.

Convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, carried out the deadly attack last Friday (29 November).

Invited to a prisoner rehabilitation conference at the Fishmongers’ Hall, Khan threatened to detonate what we now know was a fake explosive device, before stabbing five people.

He was later shot dead by police after being accosted by members of the public on London Bridge.

Of the five people caught up in the incident, 25-year-old Jack Merritt and 23-year-old Saskia Jones lost their lives. Both individuals were University of Cambridge graduates who had been attending the event at the hall organised by the university’s Learning Together programme.

Three other people were taken to hospital – one has since returned home while the other two remain in a stable condition, according to Dr Vin Diwaker, medical director of the NHS in London.

In an interview with the BBC, Fishmongers’ Hall chief executive Toby Williamson, praised the actions of his staff, later adding that Lukasz was stabbed five times during the incident, but continued to help nonetheless.

“It turned into a game of pinball bomb with added knives,” he said, describing the events as “extraordinary”.

“Let me just bounce you round. In reception, you’ve got Dawn and Gareth, one trying to keep that door closed against a vicious knifeman, the other calmly placing the emergency calls. Peter, Amma, they appear on scene, wrong time, wrong place, and make instant decisions as to who to protect and where to go.

“You get Alla and Sandra, normally dealing with coats and serving coffees, and now fighting a life moment.

“And then famously you get Andy and Lukasz starting a fight back. They used fire extinguishers, they used chairs, they used these narwhal tusks ripped off the wall in the heat of the moment and they took the game back to the knifeman.

“When that door was forced open at knifepoint, they follow out onto the pavement, shouting at others to get back and join in. They know there is a bomb there and the rest I think you know is what happened on the television cameras.

“They took a decision that enough was enough, they took anything immediately to hand in order to level the odds against a madman. No one could predict how this was going to happen. Start to finish, two minutes, but they were determined that it wasn’t going to go on and they did exactly what they had to do – I’m proud to know them.”

Speaking at a press conference following the event, Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said: “In amongst that horror, we witnessed the most extraordinary courage by members of the public as well as City of London, Met Police officers and emergency services.

“It’s a terrible thing that people found themselves in that position – but as we saw the worst of humankind, we also saw the very best of human spirit and of London.”

It is the second time that London Bridge has been caught up in a terror attack in recent years. On 3 June 2017 eight people were killed and 48 were injured after three terrorists used a vehicle to run into pedestrians, before getting out and stabbing people in nearby Borough Market.