OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
1:26 PM – Thursday, August 1, 2024
Axel Rudakubana, a 17-year-old in the UK, was publicly identified by the authorities on Thursday as the suspected assailant who killed three children while injuring others.
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Media outlets were initially unable to identify Rudakubana due to age-related reporting laws. However, a judge announced at Liverpool Crown Court that the young assailant can now be named publicly because he will turn 18 next week.
Rudakubana is accused of fatally stabbing three young girls and injuring ten others during a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class.
Police say that he was born in Cardiff, Wales, but both of his parents are originally from Rwanda.
Sometime after relocating to the UK, Rudakubana’s parents eventually moved to the Southport region in 2013. However, it was not reported where the couple first lived when they moved to the UK.
There has also been disputes over whether Rudakubana is an immigrant or a natural born citizen of Wales. British authorities maintain that he is in fact a citizen who was born in Cardiff, but a student who personally knew him from a musical theatre group told The New York Times that he just randomly showed up to the theatre class one day.
“They [teachers] said make him welcome, because he’s just moved from quite far away,” the boy said. “I think it was more him trying to branch out and meet kids in the community … he was enjoying it but you know, with musical theatre kids … they’re very extroverted, he wasn’t, he was very quiet,” he added. “He didn’t really talk about himself that much.”
He is accused of killing six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar. Additionally, Rudakubana was charged on ten counts of attempted murder for stabbing eight other children and two adults who sought to protect the kids at the Southport children’s event on Monday.
Meanwhile, Judge Andrew Menary highlighted the riots that have broken out all throughout the United Kingdom after a different person was falsely reported by British news outlets to be the culprit of the stabbings.
“Continuing to prevent the full reporting has the disadvantage of allowing others to spread misinformation, in a vacuum,” Menary stated at a second hearing in Liverpool Crown Court.
Police specified that the purported murder weapon he used was a kitchen knife with a curved blade, but they have not revealed the motive behind the stabbings.
Rudakubana gave reporters a quick smile at his initial appearance in Liverpool Magistrates’ Court while wearing a gray tracksuit. In Crown Court, he remained silent and covered his face with his sweatshirt up to his hair.
The victims’ families were not present in court, nor were the parents of the accused assailant.
Meanwhile, media and news commentators, like the BBC’s Alex Armstrong, took to social media platforms to post about the newly revealed assailant’s identity, and to post the artist sketches of Rudakubana while he was in court.
Rudakubana reportedly took a taxi early on Monday and went to Hart Space, a dance school in the seaside town of Southport, where he is said to have attacked the kids and other adults during a dance and yoga class.
A third young girl was confirmed dead at the hospital on Tuesday, while the other two died at the scene of the crime.
The two injured adults are Leanne Lucas, 35, who was teaching the dance class, and John Hayes, who works next door and rushed to the children’s safety when he heard screaming. Both adults are still being treated at the hospital.
Just before the mass stabbing, the suspect was seen on released surveillance footage strolling through a residential neighborhood approximately fifteen minutes from the dance studio while wearing a green sweatshirt and a face mask.
Police have stated that they do not believe that Rudakubana’s attack was motivated by terrorism and that he likely carried out the act alone.
Rudakubana is due to appear in court in Liverpool later on Thursday.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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