Although Khalid Masood — the London shooter whose rampage last week resulted in four deaths — was reported to have made three trips to Saudi Arabia between 2005 and 2015, police say that he did not work with any known terrorists or terrorist organizations in carrying out his attack.
Deputy Assistant Commission Neil Basu told the Associated Press that Masoon planned his attack "based on low sophistication, low tech, low cost techniques copied from other attacks." He added that prior to the attack Masood had not been a "subject of interest" for either law enforcement or intelligence.
Masood, who was born as Adrian Russel Ajao, had been in jail on three separate occasions, including once for slashing a man's face with a knife. His last conviction had been in 2003. Masood had gotten married and fathered children by the time he carried out the shooting at Parliament last week. That is an unusual profile for someone carrying out a terrorist attack, as most individuals who do this haven't planted roots and are young.
As former London Police head of counterterrorism Richard Walton told CBS News, "Most terrorists are younger men. A 52-year-old male, that is quite exceptional and obviously there will be concern about how he was radicalized."
Ajao was described as being an athletic and popular teenager by those who remembered him, and was even reported as being friendly and conversant as of the night before the attack. These facts have also raised questions about his motives.
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