London Attack: Hero Mom Confronts, Calms Cleaver-Wielding Woolwich Attackers
A London attack on a British soldier Wednesday could have been part of a bigger terror event — except for the courage of a hero mom and Cub scout leader who stepped forward to stop the tragedy. An iconic photo of unarmed Ingrid Loyau-Kennett confronting one of the cleaver-wielding terrorists stunned the world.
You can see one of many tweets containing the image down below as well as a tiny sampling of the many messages saluting the British woman’s heroism.
Just moments after the self-proclaimed terrorists had attempted to behead the soldier, 48-year-old Ingrid Loyau-Kennett stepped forward. She was riding by on the number 53 bus, and she actually jumped off to try to rescue the man.
Loyau-Kennett told The Telegraph:
“Being a cub leader I have my first aid so when I saw this guy on the floor I thought it was an accident then I saw the guy was dead and I could not feel any pulse.”
One of the London attackers, armed with multiple tools, tried to stop her.
She had another opportunity to run away but instead, “I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else. I thought these people usually have a message so I said ‘what do you want?'”
That’s right. She engaged the two men in conversation and calmed them by encouraging them to spout off like movie villain bad guys while they waited for the armed response from London police — which reportedly took a shocking 20 minutes.
In an extended interview with The Guardian, Loyau-Kennett provided a detailed description of what the attackers told her as she tried to calm them while they waited for police:
“He said it was a war and if the police were coming, he was going to kill them. I asked him if that was a reasonable thing to do but it was clear that he really wanted to do that…
I went to speak to the other man who was quieter and more shy. I asked him if he wanted to give me what he was holding in his hand, which was a knife but I didn’t want to say that… I kept talking to him to keep him occupied.”
Eventually, she saw her bus being moved and knew that the police were coming, which gave her time to back away without alarming the two attackers. The two Woolwich attackers were captured after an exchange of gunfire which injured both men.
Loyau-Kennett played down her role in stopping the men from attacking more people by adding: “I am just happy that I managed to do something that might have prevented more trouble.”
UK Scouting issued this statement:
“We are very proud of Scout volunteer Ingrid Loyau-Kennett for her calm and measured actions in very difficult circumstances. We are looking to make an award of bravery to her in the fullness of time to recognise her actions.”
Bravest person in the world. Cub scout leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett confronts the London jihadi soa.li/0aocBAe twitter.com/TarekFatah/sta…
— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) May 22, 2013
Astonishing bravery. Cub leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett asked one of the killers: “Would you like to give me what you have in your hands?”
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) May 23, 2013
Is there a badge? MT@ukscouting: Cub Scout Leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett made a positive community contribution confronting a terrorist
— Chris Deerin (@chrisdeerin) May 23, 2013
#woolwich Ingrid Loyau-Kennett to be out new prime minister! She’s got more balls than all of them put together!
— Debbie the Eagle (@debznfoz) May 22, 2013
Ingrid Loyau-Kennett represents amazing courage in the face of the cowardly London attacks.
[bloody knife photo by Fer Gregory via Shutterstock]
