Breaking: A British Member of Parliament has been assassinated

[Zaune]

BBC News

An MP has died after she was shot and stabbed during an attack in her constituency, police have said.

Jo Cox, 41, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was left bleeding on the ground by her attacker. A 77-year-old man also suffered slight injuries.

A 52-year-old man was arrested near Market Street, Birstall. The MP held a weekly advice surgery nearby.

Her husband Brendan Cox said she would want people "to unite to fight against the hatred that killed her."

Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the country would be "in shock at the horrific murder", describing the MP as a "much loved colleague".

He added: "Jo died doing her public duty at the heart of our democracy, listening to and representing the people she was elected to serve.

"In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died.

"But for now all our thoughts are with Jo's husband Brendan and their two young children. They will grow up without their mum, but can be immensely proud of what she did, what she achieved and what she stood for."

'People screaming'

Cafe owner Clarke Rothwell, who witnessed the attack, said he heard a "loud popping noise that sounded like a balloon burst - a loud balloon".

"When I looked round there's a man stood there in his 50s with a white baseball cap on and a jacket with a gun, an old fashioned looking gun in his hand," he said.

"He shot this lady once and then he shot her again, he fell to the floor, leant over shot her once more in the face area.
Image caption Ms Cox was attacked in her constituency

"Somebody tried to grab him, wrestling with him and then he wielded a knife, like a hunting knife, just started lunging at her with a knife half a dozen times. People were screaming and running from the area".

Eyewitness Hithem Ben Abdallah, said the mother of two was left lying and bleeding on the pavement after the incident.

Mr Abdallah, 56, was in a cafe next door to the library shortly after 13:00 BST when he heard screaming and went outside.

'Handmade weapon'

"There was a guy who was being very brave and another guy with a white baseball cap who he was trying to control and the man in the baseball cap suddenly pulled a gun from his bag".

After a brief scuffle, he said the man stepped back and the MP became involved.

Mr Abdallah said the weapon had "looked handmade" and a man who had been wrestling with the gunman continued even after seeing the gun.

He said: "The man stepped back with the gun and fired it and then he fired a second shot, as he was firing he was looking down at the ground."

"He was kicking her as she was lying on the floor", he said.

Her husband, Brendan, has since tweeted a picture of his wife standing by the side of the River Thames in London.

David Cameron also tweeted to express his condolences.

Leeds North East MP Fabian Hamilton said he had known Jo Cox since before she became an MP.

Mr Hamilton said: "And I'm just completely devastated, I know Birstall reasonably well, and I think we're all totally shocked."

Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman said he was "absolutely stunned".

"I was a mentor to her," he said.

"She was the same age as my daughter. She was one of the real talents in parliament, people loved her in the constituency."

It has been announced the Vote Leave and Remain have suspended campaigning in the EU referendum in light of the attack.

Ms Cox, who was born in Batley, was elected in 2015.

She was educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School and graduated from Cambridge University in 1995.

A former head of policy for Oxfam, she also worked as an adviser to Sarah Brown and Baroness Kinnock.

Mark Goldring, Oxfam's chief executive, said: " Oxfam is deeply shocked to hear the news. Our thoughts and sympathies are with Jo and her family at this difficult time."

Most MPs hold surgeries in their constituency to give people an opportunity to meet them and discuss matters of concern.

They are usually held once a week and advertised locally or online. An MP may take up an issue on a constituent's behalf.

If the police know their suspect's motive yet they haven't made any statement, but it's difficult and expensive enough to get hold of a pistol in this country that this was very likely planned in advance. Live updates can be found here.

[Crazedwraith]

We've been discussing this in the referendum thread. It's terrible.

Eyewitness have reportedly said he was shouting 'Britain First!', that's the closest we've got to a motivation for now.

[MKSheppard]

(sarcasm)

This is a blatant hoax. There is no way she could have been shot in a nation with common sense gun controls with no psychopathic National Rifle Association to enable the easy sales of handheld murder tubes.

(/Sarcasm)

On a serious note, it's looking like she was shot with a zip gun.

[ray245]

(sarcasm)

This is a blatant hoax. There is no way she could have been shot in a nation with common sense gun controls with no psychopathic National Rifle Association to enable the easy sales of handheld murder tubes.

(/Sarcasm)

On a serious note, it's looking like she was shot with a zip gun.

For fuck sake Shep, people DO get gunned down even in the countries with the strictest gun laws. Those that advocate gun control aren't stupid enough to believe there will be zero gun crime even if you have strict gun laws.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Apparently she was shot and stabbed. Clearly the SOB who did this wasn't fucking around

[Zaune]

On a serious note, it's looking like she was shot with a zip gun.

Very likely. Probably a crude conversion job on a pellet gun, about equally dangerous to the person holding it as whoever they're pointing it at; if you want anything better than that it'll cost a pretty hefty sum of money, even if you know the right people.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

On a serious note, it's looking like she was shot with a zip gun.

Very likely. Probably a crude conversion job on a pellet gun, about equally dangerous to the person holding it as whoever they're pointing it at; if you want anything better than that it'll cost a pretty hefty sum of money, even if you know the right people.

She was shot three times- clearly it was more than a one-shot improvised deal.

[Flagg]

(sarcasm)

This is a blatant hoax. There is no way she could have been shot in a nation with common sense gun controls with no psychopathic National Rifle Association to enable the easy sales of handheld murder tubes.

(/Sarcasm)

On a serious note, it's looking like she was shot with a zip gun.

Classy.

[Iroscato]

(sarcasm)

This is a blatant hoax. There is no way she could have been shot in a nation with common sense gun controls with no psychopathic National Rifle Association to enable the easy sales of handheld murder tubes.

(/Sarcasm)

On a serious note, it's looking like she was shot with a zip gun.

Fuck off you twat.




This is horrific. Britain First has been going into overdrive to disassociate themselves from the incident and deny any involvement. Not saying they're involved, but I've often been worried about extreme action being taken because of these knuckle-draggers and I'm hoping this is the last such event we see for a long, long while.

[Dartzap]

It seems that theres alot of contradictory evidence about the alleged slogan being shouted. If it is true, and combined with this

Members of Britain First have been in the Welsh mountains holding what they described as an “activist training camp”.

A dozen people took part in the camp in the mountains of Snowdonia, where they said they learned things including self-defence, martial arts, knife defence, survival techniques, rough camping and mountain climbing.

Describing their “knife defence” class, they wrote: “Knife defence and self defence is crucial to keeping our activists safe. Knives are prevalent in our society. We never want trouble but we refuse to leave our activists exposed.”

Then BF might just find themselves in the illustrious company of the IRA and other terrorist organisations. The last successful attempt on an MP was 26 years ago, by car bomb.

[Joun_Lord]

Pro-gunners have been rubbing their dicks all over about this elsewhere from what I've seen, using this as evidence to show that even in a anti-gun (and knife considering the poor lady was stabbed) place such a Britain laws magically don't protect them from madmen.

I agree to a degree but for fucks sake, using a persons death for political points is pretty shitty. Its shitty when anti-rights nutters do it, its shitty when pro-gunner nutters do it too. Have some fucking class bitches.

People being twats aside, there is some comparisons people are making between this and Orlando is the fact the killers both (allegedly) shouted allegiance to groups before doing their dark deeds.

The same question that people ask about Omar has to be asked here, is the guy really a part of the group or just someone trying to act like they are? Did the group support the killer or was he just inspired? Did they even have anything to do with him but instead he was just using it as a smokescreen?

The British First tools seem like real douchebags but from what I've read they haven't seemed violent, just really fucking douchey. So its possible guy was connected to them but judging by their history its unlikely while still possible they were directly involved, but again it might be possible.

Speculation and all that aside my sympathy goes out to her family.

[The Romulan Republic]

We've been discussing this in the referendum thread. It's terrible.

Eyewitness have reportedly said he was shouting 'Britain First!', that's the closest we've got to a motivation for now.

Right wing domestic terrorism isn't just an American problem.

This is a horrible story. I hope the scumbag responsible is dealt with as harshly as possible.

I also hope that this helps turn people against Britain leaving the EU, as it reveals what is underlying much of the support for leaving- hate and rabid nationalism.

[MKSheppard]

Fuck off you twat.

Spoken like someone in favor of having as many handheld Murder Tubes on the streets as possible!

Those that advocate gun control aren't stupid enough to believe there will be zero gun crime even if you have strict gun laws.

Actually....

Baltimore CBS News Link

“We’re going to stop when we get to a death toll of Zero in the state of Maryland,” said Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County). “That’s when we’re going to stop.”

[Zaune]

Oh, for pity's sake... Shep, if you're trying to make the point that gun violence cannot be completely prevented by tightly controlling access to firearms, you're going about it so badly that I'm getting annoyed, and I'm one of the few pro-gun lefties around here.

[Joun_Lord]

I'm one of the few pro-gun lefties around here.

Pro-gun lefty? But.....but thats impossible or atleast improbable. A pro-gun lefty is like a African American KKK member or an openly Jewish neo-nazi, its just doesn't make sense.

I kid, I kid.

This is me poking a bit of fun at the brainbug of gun rights being a right wing only thing. While the NRA is practically an arm of the Republican party there are leftist gun owners much to the disbelief of many. Even a whole group of gay gun owners.

[Zaune]

Heh. Let's just say I'm honest enough to admit I'd react rather differently if a disgruntled Polish man put a couple of bullets into a UKIP Member of Parliament.

[The Romulan Republic]

Heh. Let's just say I'm honest enough to admit I'd react rather differently if a disgruntled Polish man put a couple of bullets into a UKIP Member of Parliament.

You shouldn't, though.

Terrorism is terrorism, no matter who the target, and political disputes should be solved via any of the innumerable legal means to do so, not via bullets.

[MKSheppard]

Oh, for pity's sake... Shep, if you're trying to make the point that gun violence cannot be completely prevented by tightly controlling access to firearms, you're going about it so badly that I'm getting annoyed, and I'm one of the few pro-gun lefties around here.

Somehow, a mentally ill person was able to get their hands onto a handgun.

Clearly, the UK needs Universal Background Checks to prevent mentally ill people from getting their hands on a handgun.

We owe it to the victims to close the Chav Loophole.

[madd0ct0r]

Someone slap shep.

Jo owen used to be head of policy at oxfam and continued this in her voting record. She'll be missed.

[ray245]

Oh, for pity's sake... Shep, if you're trying to make the point that gun violence cannot be completely prevented by tightly controlling access to firearms, you're going about it so badly that I'm getting annoyed, and I'm one of the few pro-gun lefties around here.

Somehow, a mentally ill person was able to get their hands onto a handgun.

Clearly, the UK needs Universal Background Checks to prevent mentally ill people from getting their hands on a handgun.

We owe it to the victims to close the Chav Loophole.

I know you're an idiot when it comes to debating any political issues, but you can't be this idiotic.

You know that Britian does allow people to own hunting rifles and etcs? The point of this is that he didn't manage to get his hands on an actual gun, having to convert and practically build it himself. And it's not like there is no gun crimes in the UK ever since they banned handguns.

Anyway, you do have to be smart enough to know that this isn't a gun debate at all? Take your passion for gun rights somewhere else.

[Thanas]

Shep, quit shitting up this thread.

[Joun_Lord]

Heh. Let's just say I'm honest enough to admit I'd react rather differently if a disgruntled Polish man put a couple of bullets into a UKIP Member of Parliament.

Imma gonna echo TRR and say you probably shouldn't feel differently.

Violence against someone is bad no matter the person (with very few exceptions like protecting ones own life or the lives of others and against people like Hitler and people who talk in movie theaters, I'm kidding about the last part.....mostly). Even someone trying to put a round "tRump" or "Hitlary" is bad and both of those are pretty reprehensible people who arguably would make the world a better place by tripping down a flight of steps after shooting themselves in the back a bunch of times.

"2nd Amendment solutions" to mere political disagreements should not happen nor should terrorism be part of the political process.

Disagreeing with someone is fine, encouraged even, but not violence even against shitbags.

[Zixinus]

The gun is irrelevant to the discussion because he managed to stab her anyway. Without a gun he would have just walked up to her and stab her. It has happened elsewhere in the world and this guy clearly didn't give a shit about dying. The usual American gun politics are irrelevant here.

There is some info about the assassin. So far, it seems that he might be genuinely a lone nut.

The man held over the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox is "not a violent man and is not that political", his brother has said.

Named locally as Tommy Mair, the 52-year-old was arrested by police close to the home where he lived alone in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

Witnesses reported that during the attack he shouted "Britain first" twice.

Scott Mair, 50, told reporters on Thursday that his brother had a "history of mental illness" but that "he has had help".

He told the Sun: "We are struggling to believe what has happened. My brother is not a violent man and is not that political. We don't even know who he votes for. I am visibly shaken at this news. I am so sorry for the MP and her family."

Mr Mair's half-brother, Duane St Louis, 41, told ITV he believed his brother "wouldn't hurt a fly".

Police forensics teams searched Mr Mair's home on Thursday while his neighbours described their shock over the news.

One man said: "He's a very quiet person. He likes his gardening and stuff like that. He was a man of few words really."
Image caption Police said a man had been arrested in Market Street near the scene of the attack in Birstall

Another neighbour said she had seen him outside the house on the morning of the attack. "He just walked past like he does," she said.

West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Burns Williamson called the killing a "localised incident"

Police have so far refused to discuss the possible motive behind the killing, despite reports that Mr Mair had sympathy for far-right groups.

His name appears on a website listing him as a past subscriber to the SA Patriot magazine - a South African neo-Nazi magazine which ceased publication in the 1980s.

The UK political party Britain First, which boasts of its hatred of white left-wing politicians, has issued a video statement condemning the attack and says that it had no connection with the incident.

[Broomstick]

The man held over the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox is "not a violent man and is not that political", his brother has said.

Maybe not in the past, but clearly he is now a violent man. I also suspect political, but await more information from British police before making a final conclusion.

On a serious note, it's looking like she was shot with a zip gun.

Very likely. Probably a crude conversion job on a pellet gun, about equally dangerous to the person holding it as whoever they're pointing it at; if you want anything better than that it'll cost a pretty hefty sum of money, even if you know the right people.

She was shot three times- clearly it was more than a one-shot improvised deal.

Presumably, it was an improvised or homemade gun that could be re-loaded. Or had multiple loaded barrels. Since I don't think authorities have released a picture of the weapon it's impossible to say.

"Improvised" and "home made" do not mean inefficient or ineffective or poorly made. It does mean this was clearly a premeditated act.

A sad and tragic death for a woman who, from all accounts, was trying to make the world a better place.

[Purple]

A lot of people think that an improvised and homemade firearm has to be crude but it really doesn't. A person that knows what they are doing and has access to relatively simple tools such as a lathe can still produce a functioning semi-auto pistol, revolver or even an AK. So it's not at all a stretch that this person could have produced, or more likely acquired a multiple shot weapon.