British MP Jo Cox assassinated

Just checking in with the brit watmmers. Pretty horrific honestly. Only keep one eye on British politics through cuz my family but this is really sad. She was a good person.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36550304

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An MP has died after she was shot and stabbed in a "horrific" assault in her constituency, police have said.

Jo Cox, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was left bleeding on the ground after the attack in Birstall, West Yorkshire. A man was arrested nearby.

One eyewitness told the BBC they heard her attacker shout "put Britain first" at least twice beforehand.

Tributes flooded in from politicians including David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Mrs Cox's husband Brendan said she would want people "to unite to fight against the hatred that killed her."

The world sucks broes

End of days for reals

https://youtu.be/ngTLsqQIQtw

yeah it's awful, thoughts are with her family.

fucking cowardly shit right here.

  On 6/17/2016 at 9:54 AM, usagi said:

fucking cowardly shit right here.

straight up

guy was a fucking mentalist, shouldn't have been on the streets..history of mental illness and paranoia etc. there have been huge cutbacks to mental health services under this government and this may very well be a direct result.

Very sad. 2 young kids who will never see their mummy again, and a husband who has to deal with the consequences.

Jesus that's brutal...

She really seemed like a genuinely decent human being, about as far from a typical career politician as you could imagine. Really horrible.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/16/jo-cox-murder-how-democracys-darkest-day-in-decades-unfolded/

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“After he shot her the first time at pretty much point black range he shot her the second time whilst she was lying on the ground.

“All the time as he was reloading he was stabbing her again and again on the ground in her body and shouting ‘Britain first! Britain first! Britain First’. He was shouting ‘Britain first!’ again and again as he stabbed her again and again.”

She had been been receiving significant numbers of threatening messages online and by telephone for months, after she had singled out Britain First several times early in the year.

If you've never heard of them:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/16/britain-first-the-far-right-group-with-a-massive-facebook-follow/

The guy who did this may have had a history of mental illness, but this was clearly more than just some paranoid delusional episode, he has a long history of association with far right and white supremacist groups (he had bought subscriptions and other stuff from this group's website in the US, and also had subscriptions to a South African pro-apartheid group). https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/06/16/alleged-killer-british-mp-was-longtime-supporter-neo-nazi-national-alliance

Truly horrible shit indeed, she seemed like a genuinely good person and one of the more honest politicians out there.

The source of the "britain first" was a tweet that has since been deleted. Someone on reddit claims he is a local and has a better explanation:

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Local here, street away from the murderer and down the road from the amazing Jo Coxs surgery.

Sadden and shocked. I know it's trotted out on every one of these horrific incidents but the man was genuinely a loner who was batshit mad.

He used to go to a mental health course thing that really helped him a year or so ago, after the elections it got discontinued and he sort of blamed her for it. Felt she was giving too much to Europe & everywhere but locally (her amazing Syria & anti-slavery work etc) which is just completely incorrect. She cared a great deal about her constituency and she walked around Birstall as a local, not a shipped in MP. He was a lunatic with a grudge and that is a dangerous combo.

A shocking day we won't forget. I can't imagine what her husband and kids are going through. My heart bleeds for them.

If we have more people like Jo Cox in the world will be a different place in 100 years. Take a leaf from her book in your forward steps. Rest in peace.

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/4oe57n/mp_jo_cox_dead_after_shooting_attack/d4c1ll3

IDK why but this hit me harder than other high profile attacks lately, probably because it's close to home and she had kids. Sad.

  On 6/17/2016 at 2:06 PM, AAAAh said:

IDK why but this hit me harder than other high profile attacks lately, probably because it's close to home and she had kids. Sad.

Any killing on an elected official is quite heinous imo, it's also an attack symbolically of those who voted for her and those she represents in her district. As others mentioned too, what makes this more tragic was she was also a well liked stateswoman, not just another run of the mill politician.

  On 6/17/2016 at 1:58 PM, vasio said:

The source of the "britain first" was a tweet that has since been deleted. Someone on reddit claims he is a local and has a better explanation:

No, the source is two independent witnesses as reported by all the major newspapers.

It's pretty clear this guy has a long history of association with far right groups, this isn't just about his mental health issues.

  On 6/17/2016 at 3:45 PM, caze said:

 

  On 6/17/2016 at 1:58 PM, vasio said:

The source of the "britain first" was a tweet that has since been deleted. Someone on reddit claims he is a local and has a better explanation:

 

No, the source is two independent witnesses as reported by all the major newspapers.

 

It's pretty clear this guy has a long history of association with far right groups, this isn't just about his mental health issues.

 

I've seen a video from a testimony that stated that nothing of that sort was mentioned. He's still alive and more info will come out with the trial.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/17/jo-cox-suspect-thomas-mair-bought-gun-manuals-from-us-neo-nazis-group-claims

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Special police units who searched the house of the man arrested after the killing of MP Jo Cox are believed to have found samples of Nazi regalia and far-right literature.
...
Sources say that the suspected killer was lucid when first questioned. A picture is now emerging of a deliberately targeted attack in which Mair lay in wait for the MP as she emerged from her constituency meeting on Thursday. Witnesses have confirmed that he shouted “Britain first” or “Put Britain first” as he attacked Cox

all I gotta say is I'm sorry to hear this. RIP.

This is really sad :( poor family

Not unheard of MPs getting attacked, my local MP was stabbed up pretty badly by a constituent a few years back, Stephen Timms. There's some nutters out there unfortunately :(

  On 6/17/2016 at 6:44 PM, luke viia said:

half a page of grieving, then straight to the bickering

I don't think there's been any bickering going on. It's important to be aware of all the information that's out there, and whether it's legitimate or not.

vasio's right to be wary of jumping to any conclusions, but too often these things get written off as mental health issues as a means of deflecting from the real underlying problems. we don't even know what kind of issues he had, could have just been depression or something, nor whether whatever issues they were were particularly affecting him at the time of the attack. his documented links with the far right go back over twenty years.

there's far too much stigma associated with mental health problems as it is, trying to link this solely with his mental health at this point is just as dangerous as anything else. as with everything the exact reasons will be complicated, and we'll likely never have all the answers, but there's little doubt in my mind this is associated with the far right (whether in an organised manner or more from a lone-wolf perspective), we should consider this a terrorist act, and it's no surprise that this has happened right now given the context of what's going on next week.

  On 6/18/2016 at 12:37 PM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

so he blamed labour for the cuts to mental health facilities? i don't doubt they would do that, but labour haven't been in for ages.

dude was mentally ill, far right, and just shot and stabbed a mother of two, I wouldn't try to find the logic in his statements

Rip, interested to hear if the disability cuts come into it, although it sounds like a mentally ill, isolated angry man caught up in the brexit bs, which has just been a waste of time, energy & now sadly a life

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/18/jo-cox-murder-suspect-thomas-mair-told-police-he-was-political-activist

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The man charged with murdering the Labour MP Jo Cox gave his name as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain” during his first court appearance, where it emerged he allegedly claimed to be a “political activist” during his arrest.

Such a shame.

  On 6/18/2016 at 6:45 PM, caze said:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/18/jo-cox-murder-suspect-thomas-mair-told-police-he-was-political-activist

 

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The man charged with murdering the Labour MP Jo Cox gave his name as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain” during his first court appearance, where it emerged he allegedly claimed to be a “political activist” during his arrest.

 

Doesn't sound like there's going to be much more to it than that. Given the info out there about him from his brother and neighbors they all say the exact same thing:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/17/europe/tommy-mair-jo-cox-suspect/

i'm curious if he made the homemade gun from reading that guidebook or if he bought it from someone else, from what I've read it's not an easy thing to do.