A Polish kitchen porter who had a one-on-one fight with London Bridge terrorist Usman Khan on Tuesday said he acted on instinct by tackling him with a stick.
Lukasz, who only wanted to give his first name, said he was recovering from stab wounds and coming to terms with the incident.
Khan, a terror convict released from prison on license, killed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, and wounded three others in a knife attack on Friday last week that started in the Fishmongers’ Hall, the headquarters of one of London’s historic trade guilds.
He moved on to the bridge where armed police shot him dead, five minutes after being alerted.
In a statement issued through London’s Metropolitan Police, Lukasz described the attack as an “unimaginable” tragedy.
“I and several others tried to stop a man from attacking people inside the building,” he said. “I did this using a pole I found. Someone else was holding a narwhal tusk.”
“When the attack happened, I acted instinctively. I am now coming to terms with the whole traumatic incident,” he said.
He sent his condolences to everyone affected by the “sad and pointless” attack.
Commodore Toby Williamson, the chief executive of the Fishmongers’ Hall, told the BBC that Lukasz heard a scream, and as a first aider, went toward the noise.
“Lukasz pulls off the wall this long stick. He charges towards the bad guy and he impacts him on the chest,” Williamson said.
However, it had no effect as Khan had strapped on a hoax explosive device.
“But he’s buying time. He allows others to escape, to move to adjacent rooms,” Williamson said.
“At that point, he’s got about a one-minute, one-on-one straight combat. He [Khan] works his way up Lukasz’s pole, slashing with this knife and he takes five wounds to his left side,” he said.
“It’s pretty gruesome,” Williamson added.
Others joined in and, outnumbered, Khan tried to run outside, but was trapped.
Khan went into the reception and the cloakroom before a showdown in the entrance hall.
When Khan got outside, “the first one after him is Lukasz, shouting at everyone to get out of the way, get back,” Williamson said. “Lukasz is losing strength in his left side at this point — but his job is done.”
After people pinned Khan down, police arrived and shot and killed him.
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