London Mayor Sadiq Khan Responds To Attack
GORANI: Well, let's bring you up to date with our other breaking news story. An incident that happened right here behind me this morning. Police are treating it as a terrorist attack after a car smashed into pedestrians before hitting a barrier right outside the Houses of Parliament. No one received life-threatening injuries, thankfully. We understand the suspect is a 29-year-old man who was arrested at the scene. In the last few hours police say they have been searching houses in the cities of Birmingham and Nottingham in connection with the attack. Erin McLaughlin has been on the scene all day. What more are we learning about this suspect, Erin?</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Authorities at this point are not divulging much about the suspect's identity. We do know he's 29 years old, a British citizen. According to the British security minister, not originally from the U.K., but they're not giving out further details, the security minister says because they don't want to compromise this ongoing investigation. Also, under scrutiny at this point is the Ford Fiesta, the car the suspect is believed to have used to plow into that security barrier. The whereabouts of that car obviously critical to the investigation. Authorities say they've traced it to Birmingham which is about 2 and 1/2 hours outside of London. They believe it was driven from Birmingham to London, arriving in London, just after midnight. They also believe it was being driven around Westminster around 6:00 in the morning, a full hour and a half prior to this apparent suspected attack.</s>MCLAUGHLIN: Chilling surveillance footage shows the moment a suspect plows his car into a security barrier outside the houses of parliament injuring two. The car mounts the curb and crashes. Police are treating it as a terrorist incident. London's latest. It happened just after 7:30 in the morning as people were making their way to work. Surveillance footage shows the suspect driving his car down this road. Initially it looks as though he's going to turn to the right of parliament square. He suddenly veers this way. The crash happened just beyond those screens Immediately after the crash the suspect was arrested at gunpoint.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my opinion it was deliberate. He didn't swerve into it. It was a direct hit.</s>MCLAUGHLIN: Police agree with that assessment. Given the iconic target, the way the suspect was driving, the weaponized vehicle. They seem to have a good idea how it happened, but they still don't know exactly why.</s>NEIL BASU, LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we're treating this as a terrorist incident. Our policy now is to formally establish the identity of the suspect and establish his motivation if we can. He is not currently cooperating.</s>MCLAUGHLIN: Tuesday there was an increased police presence around the capital, although no intelligence to suggest another attack is imminent. People went about their daily lives.</s>SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR: All of us are angry with these acts of terrorism being committed. The British Parliament, the Prime Minister, Theresa May work closely with me as the mayor to make sure we do all we can do.</s>MCLAUGHLIN: This is not the first time this London landmark was targeted. In March last year, a 52-year-old Britain, Khalid Masood, drove into pedestrians on Westminster bridge, killing five and injuring more than 50. London continues to remain on high alert and there's a sense here that things could have been much worse.</s>MCLAUGHLIN: Hala, key questions remain unanswered, why the suspect was apparently driving around this area about an hour and a half prior to the suspected attack. Also, why did he choose to drive into a security barrier that's presumably designed to withstand that kind of impact, all things authorities at this point are trying to get to the bottom of, Hala.</s>GORANI: Erin McLaughlin, thanks very much. Dal Babu, former superintendent with the metropolitan police here with us. What do you make of this attack? This guy, he had bad intentions. It was not very effective.</s>DAL BABU, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE: No. from what I understand he was not on the radar of security services. That's what we or being told at this moment. Seems an incredibly poorly planned execution of an attack. I think there will be questions around whether security barriers did their job because he went into the security barriers. I'm sure they'll be reviewed, just like on every single occasion when there's been a terrorist attack. You and I have spoken about terrorist attacks on bridges that had barriers on either side to protect cyclists and pedestrians. They'll be reviewing it.</s>GORANI: The big question, did he act alone, a lone wolf attack? Was he inspired by or radicalized online? Those are things we ask every time.</s>BABU: Absolutely. Today people will be talking about the bravery of the police officers who went to the scene. No idea whether the vehicle was loaded with bombs or explosives. Police officers reacted incredibly bravely. But there will be questions around resources. In Britain we've had a 20 percent reduction in police numbers, significant reduction in police staff and community support officers. There's been significant questions asked about whether that has had an impact in the ability of this country to deal with terrorism and knife crime which has increased.</s>GORANI: Should Londoners, Britons, people in other big cities still be concerned these types of vehicular attacks are still happening, even if this one wasn't effective? Somebody had the idea to carry it out and did, and attempted.</s>BABU: This is where we need to make sure we have the confidence of the communities. The only way you solve crime is by communities being confident in the police and the security services. If they have a concern about an individual they have reported. I think that's a challenge at the moment in terms of how we maintain that confidence. In this country there is an investigation into comments being made by Boris Johnson, former foreign secretary. He made comments that Muslim women look like letter boxes and bank robbers when they wear burqas. Not particularly helpful comments when you are trying to engage with the community. There is also the issue around former members, senior members of the Conservative Party have accused the Conservative Party of being Islamophobic. So, I think those issues are very, very important. They need to be addressed.</s>GORANI: The cultural outreach is important?</s>BABU: Absolutely. If you look at America and you look at the diversity of the police service, it's something the police service in this country would bend over backwards for. Some force areas have 1 percent, 2 percent. A couple years ago there was a study there wasn't a single African Caribbean police officer. It's about --</s>GORANI: Reflecting the community.</s>BABU: Reflecting the community. That's a really, really important area. And that's not just to be good. It's about making sure you have the intelligence, understanding of different cultures and you're able to respond and the community respects you.</s>GORANI: And could help in counterterrorism investigations.</s>BABU: Absolutely. Part of that is having an understanding of different cultures.</s>GORANI: Dal Babu, thanks very much for joining us. We'll bring you an update on the Italian bridge collapse. It happened as thunderstorms lashed the region. Much more right after this break.