A “masked” man with a firearm entered the Seven Kings Masjid in Ilford on Thursday. Worshippers ushered him out of the building. They heard a gunshot, thought to have come from a “blank-firing handgun”.
As reported by BBC, no injuries or damage were caused. The incident is not believed to be terrorism-related. According to Scotland Yard, the incident might have stemmed from an earlier incident in a street close to the mosque off High Road. The gunshot was heard about half an hour after prayers began.
No arrests have been made so far.
In a statement shared by a Muslim Council spokesman on Twitter, the mosque’s imam Mufti Suhail said the suspect’s motives had not been established.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted that he was “I am in close contact with the @metpoliceuk Commissioner about this incident at Seven Kings Mosque, and relieved to hear that nobody was injured. Everyone should be free to practice their faith free from danger and fear. An increased police presence remains on the scene.”
I am in close contact with the @metpoliceuk Commissioner about this incident at Seven Kings Mosque, and relieved to hear that nobody was injured.
Everyone should be free to practice their faith free from danger and fear. An increased police presence remains on the scene. https://t.co/Uh2hhpoQjm
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) May 10, 2019
According to Met the ballistic evidence recovered from the scene suggests that the weapon was a blank-firing handgun.”
It must be recalled that a mass shooting occurred at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, which left 50 people dead. Churches in Sri Lanka were targeted on Easter Sunday in April, in a terror attack which killed at least 253 people. A woman was killed when a gunman opened fire at a synagogue in California, a week later.
