Londoners warned police multiple times about one of the men who carried out the terror attack in London on Saturday after he attempted to convert their children to radical Islam in a park.
Khuram Shazad Butt was a member of a radical group in East London that supports the Islamic State, NBC News reported. In a documentary filmed by a British television network, the group was shown praying to a black flag tied to Islamist groups in a London park.
Two of Butt’s neighbors, Jibril Palomba and Erica Gasparri, said they reported the man to the authorities as a result of those activities.
Gasparri also said she confronted Butt two years ago after he attempted to convert her children.
“The gathering, it didn’t look normal. They were talking to the kids about the religion. Kind of like they were imposing themselves, and giving them sweets, and keep them good and playing football with them,” Gasparri told Reuters. “At the same time, they were actually—the main talk was about religion. How good it’s to be Muslim, to the fact that my kids came home and said, ‘Mummy, can we become Muslim, there is a gentleman telling us, teaching us.'”
Gasparri said she took photos of the men and brought the images to the local police.
Palomba told Reuters his wife reported Butt to the police after they expressed concern about discussions his children recalled with Butt.
“He was always speaking about Muhammad and religion, Muslim in general, this kind of stuff,” Palomba said. “And if you are not Muslim, you do not follow in the religion of Muslim you’re basically going to hell.”
Police identified Butt and another man, Rachid Redouane, as two of the three attackers in the terror attack that left seven dead and 48 injured.
Both men, along with a third, were in a rented van that plowed into people on the London Bridge on Saturday.
They later jumped out of the van and attacked people with large knives in nearby bars and restaurants.
The attackers were shot by police.
The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack.
