Police Taser Knife-Man Outside Buckingham Palace, Queen Not In Residence
A man has been Tasered and arrested outside Buckingham Palace in London today.
The man is believed to have been holding a knife to his own throat when police Tasered him outside Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guard ceremony.
The incident took place at 11.50 am on Sunday.
Police have said the man was seen with two knives outside the center gate on Sunday morning.
“He was not making threats to members of the public but he was challenged by police,” a police spokesman said. “He acted aggressively and a Taser was discharged.”
The man, who is thought to be in his fifties, was then arrested on suspicion of affray and taken to a central London police station.
Although Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the Queen, she and husband Prince Philip were at Sandringham in Norfolk at the time of the incident.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said the Royals would not be commenting as it was a police matter, Sky News notes.
Police at the scene also told members of the public that a man “tried to make an exhibition of himself during the guard change” and that there were “mental health issues” in play.
After the incident, the scene was cordoned off with police tape 30 meters from the palace gates.
According to The Guardian, just inside the cordoned-off area were two knives with six-inch blades, a pair of Nike trainers, a hat and a black carrier bag. Taser wire was also lying on the ground.
The paper goes on to quote Kevin Burrows, 33, from Surrey, who said he saw the man break through a cordon just as the changing of the guard was about to happen.
“There must have been about 15 police officers on foot who surrounded him once he’d been Tasered,” Burrows said. “The police saw him really quickly and were obviously cautious.”
“Everybody was standing back when it happened and people were actually quite calm, I think everyone was surprised. They had to divert the procession away from him. I think he was making his way to the guards.”
