Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in a shooting in her constituency yesterday.
Cox, who represents Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire, was attacked outside a library in the town of Birstall (pictured above) on Thursday. She was taken to hospital, but police later confirmed that the mother of two had died of “catastrophic” wounds.
First images of man arrested in relation to shooting of MP Jo Cox pic.twitter.com/mcK5tEVrJp
— Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) June 16, 2016
#Breaking; Scene at #Birstall after MP Jo Cox shot pic.twitter.com/vjbvwAAmeF
— Phil Bodmer (@philbodmer) June 16, 2016
Parliamentarians, including Labour colleagues and the Prime Minister, expressed concern for the 41-year-old MP, which later turned to mourning.
The whole of the Labour family, and indeed the whole country, is in shock and grief at the horrific murder of Jo Cox pic.twitter.com/obic5pOCS3
— Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) June 16, 2016
Her husband, Brendan Cox, also released a statement: “”Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous,” he wrote.
“Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.”
A statement from West Yorkshire Police said: “At 12.53 today, police were called to a report of an incident on Market Street, Birstall, where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries.” Cox, it was later learned, was attacked and murdered in the middle of a busy street on her way to the constituency surgery, having just left a school assembly. Witnesses indicated to police that the attacker had been lying in wait for her.
A second man, a bystander who apparently tried to stop the attack, was also injured. Other witnesses are still being interviewed, but several have come forward with details of the attack, telling authorities that they believe Cox had been stabbed several times and then shot.
Police said that they had arrested a 52-year-old man, believed by local media to be Tommy Mair, in connection with the crime. Unconfirmed reports, in the Daily Mail and elsewhere, note that Mair may have been under treatment for mental illness and might have recently been released from institutional care. Law enforcement has yet to comment.
Several witnesses reported that the attacker yelled, “Britain First” at some point during the attack. The far-right political party, Britain First, was quick to distance itself from the event, with leaders telling media, “we don’t encourage this kind of nonsense. Whether you agree with Labour, to have had that happen to her on the streets is shocking and an indictment of the state of this country.”
Police said that Cox, who was vocal in the EU debate, had faced an uptick in personal threats over the last several months – enough to convince law enforcement to consider increasing her personal security – but they do not believe the attack is related to those threats. Both sides of the EU referendum debate have suspended their campaigns.
