Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed in her West Yorkshire constituency. This is what has been reported so far about the attack in Birstall, near Leeds:
- Cox has died after being shot and stabbed several times in Birstall outside the town’s library. Witnesses said the attack occurred after she became involved in an altercation involving two men near her weekly advice surgery. A Labour source confirmed the attack happened after she concluded the drop-in session for constituents at about 1pm.
- Initial reports said she suffered “serious injuries and was in a critical condition”. She was taken by helicopter to Leeds General Infirmary, where she died.
- She was pronounced dead at 1.48pm by a doctor with paramedics at the scene.
- Cox’s husband Brendan issued a statement in which he said he “and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo”.
- There was a further attack on a 77-year-old man, who has sustained injuries that are not life-threatening.
- A 52-year-old man was arrested. Police were also investigating reports of a person shouting “Britain first”, a possible reference to the far-right political party.
- One witness, Hithem Ben Abdallah, 56, who was in the cafe next door to the library shortly after 1pm, said the MP was involved in an argument between two men. He told the news agency PA that a man in a baseball cap “suddenly pulled a gun from his bag” and there was a brief scuffle.
- Abdallah said: “He was fighting with her and wrestling with her and then the gun went off twice and then she fell between two cars, and I came and saw her bleeding on the floor.” The whole incident lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, Abdallah said.
- Another witness, Clarke Rothwell, who runs a cafe nearby, told the BBC: “Three times [Cox] was shot, the initial time, then she dropped to the floor and two more times. The third time he got close proximity, he shot her round the head area. In the meantime he was stabbing her as well, he was stabbing her with his knife.”
- Terry Flynn-Edwards, who runs the Divine hair studio opposite the scene of the attack, said a man from a dry cleaners had tried to stop the assault. She said Cox “walked out of the library with her PA and he was waiting for her. He stabbed her first and this guy tried to stop him and then he shot her.”
- A police spokesman said officers were called at 12.53pm to Market Street, Birstall, “where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries”. He added: “A man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby also suffered slight injuries. Armed officers attended and a 52-year-old man was arrested in the area.”
- Prime minister David Cameron called the death a tragedy and described Cox as a committed and caring MP. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Britain would be “in shock at the horrific murder” of the MP.
