A Few Lessons from the London Terror Attack

The stories that are starting to come out about the London Bridge attack reveal some good information on what NOT to do.

• Don't immediately rush in to assist victims, because you could then be targeted by a secondary attack. In this case, the Daily Mail reports on an "Australian nurse, 28, was knifed to death as she ran to help victims of London Bridge massacre." The article reports:

       Kirsty Boden, 28, from Loxton, in South Australia, was attacked by the knife-wielding terrorists while coming to the aid of other injured people.  

       Her family have paid tribute to her, saying: 'As she ran towards danger, in an effort to help people on the bridge, Kirsty sadly lost her life.

       'We are so proud of Kirsty's brave actions, which demonstrate how selfless, caring and heroic she was, not only on that night, but throughout all of her life.'

       She is one of four people who have been named as victims of the horrific attack, which killed seven.

• Don't go in thinking that your empty-hand martial arts training is going to allow you to prevail over a knife-wielding fanatic--at least, without suffering grievous injuries yourself.  Reports indicate that Geoff Ho, an expert at kick boxing and Kung-fu, attempting to intervene to stop one of the attackers who was armed with a knife. He survived, but suffered a stab to the throat, and, as of the last news report I had seen, had survived surgery but was still unable to talk. (Independent; News.com.au (warning: automatic video)). Another man took on all three of the terrorist after tthey had entered a bar to attack people with a knife; the man survived, but he was stabbed 8 times, suffering slashes to his head, chest and hands in the process. 
• Although any weapon is better than no weapon, it may still not be enough to keep you from being stabbed or slashed. In this case, again from the Daily Mail, "Rookie officer who took on London attackers with only a baton was stabbed him in the face and suffered life-changing injuries." From the article:

       A British Transport Police officer who tried to take on the London Bridge jihadis armed only with his baton has sustained 'life-altering injuries' after being stabbed in the face. 

       The officer suffered injuries to his face, leg and hands as he tried to take on the knife-wielding extremists as they went on a crazed rampage along London Bridge and Borough Market on Saturday evening.

However, a baker did a bit better while wielding two crates:

       The baker, who was on a night-shift at the time, explained that when he went outside and saw two people stabbing others, he 'froze' and didn't know what to do. 

       However, within seconds he acted and tried to stop the attackers from causing more harm. 

       He told Romanian radio station ProFM: 'So I took a crate and threw it at the attacker and then ran towards him and used the other crate to hit him on the head.'

        He added: '[Then] There was a car with a loudspeaker saying 'go, go' and they (police) threw a grenade.... and then I ran.'

       Mr Morariu explained that when he saw that 'people were desperate,' he let about 20 people into the bakery and pulled the shutters down. 

I guess the lesson is that if you are going to fight to try and save others, or to save yourself, fight like a cornered rat because that, essentially, will be the situation. But also note that, while the people who fought back were able to save lives and drive the attackers away, they were not able to stop the attackers. Rather, that required people (in this case, police) with guns.