MP Tobias Ellwood Tried to Save Wounded Officer During London Attack
British politician Tobias Ellwood rushed to the aid of a fallen Parliament police officer following a deadly terror attack in London on Wednesday, as his efforts were dramatically captured at the center of violence.
The America-born member of Parliament attempted to save the officer’s life, performing CPR and mouth-to-mouth inside the gates of the Palace of Westminster shortly after authorities said an armed attacker drove a car into nearby pedestrians before crashing and stabbing the officer with a knife.
The fast actions of Ellwood - a former British Army officer whose brother Jonathan was killed by terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002 - proved to be in vain.
“Sadly I can confirm that now four people have died. That includes the police officer who was protecting Parliament and one man we believe to be the attacker, who was shot by a police firearms officer,” Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said in a statement from Scotland Yard, which is calling the incident terrorism.
Ellwood stayed by the side of the fallen officer until an air ambulance landed in Parliament Square.
He was later seen walking toward the Foreign Office, where he works as an undersecretary of state, covered in the officer’s blood.
Ellwood, speaking to The Sun, called the attack a “huge tragedy” but declined to say much more.
“I was the last one on the scene before he [the officer] died,” he told the paper, saying, “As soon as I realized what was going on, I headed towards it.”
“I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth-to-mouth while waiting for the medics to arrive, but I think he had lost too much blood,” Ellwood said.
Cmdr. Rowley confirmed that at least 20 people were injured in the attack, which began about 2:40 p.m. local time when a car drove over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring a number of bystanders.
The attacker then got out and fatally stabbed the police officer before being shot dead by guards, the BBC and other outlets report.
“As a service, we have lost one of our own as he acted to protect the public and his colleagues,” Rowley continued in his statement, adding, “Our strength as a city depends on our ability to stand together in such terrible times.”
The British Parliament remains on lockdown, with hundreds of MPs and other staff in nearby Westminster Abbey.
