At around 1:30 PM on Thursday, British police announced the name of the suspect in the Southport attack.
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana is charged with three murders, ten attempts at murder, and for possessing a sharp object.
Police have stated that they do not consider the knife attack as terrorism. They are not looking for any additional perpetrators.
On Thursday, the suspect appeared in Liverpool magistrates’ court dressed in a grey tracksuit from prison.
Throughout the nearly hour-long hearing, Rudakubana covered his face with his sweatshirt pulled up to his hairline. He refused to speak, including confirming his name, and at times he rocked back and forth and side to side, writes The Guardian.
Court drawing of Axel Rudakubana, who has been arrested for the stabbings in Southport.
Photo: Elizabeth Cook / AP
What we know about him
Rudakubana was born and raised in Cardiff.
Both Rudakubana’s defender and the prosecutor argued in court to postpone the public disclosure of his identity until next week for the safety of his family, writes The Guardian.
His autism diagnosis was also presented as an argument against identifying him, several British media outlets report, including the BBC.
He reportedly “has resisted leaving the house and communicating with family over a period,” according to BBC in the court.
The suspect has an older brother who was also born in the Welsh capital. The parents are from Rwanda, writes BBC.
Helen, a neighbor of the family while they lived in Cardiff, tells BBC that she is shocked.
– They were a lovely young couple. They had noisy little boys.
The same neighbor describes the mother as a stay-at-home mom. She describes the father as a nice man who went to work every day.
– They had a small family car, a little van, she adds.
Axel Rudakubana photographed as a child.
Photo: Liverpool Echo
Another former neighbor of the family describes him as a “quiet” boy, who clung to his mother as a child, writes The Sun.
A 51-year-old teaching assistant who lives opposite the family’s former home tells the Daily Telegraph that “there were no problems” while they lived there.
– They were a friendly couple with two small boys. I can’t believe what has happened, he says.
Active in local church
According to the BBC, the family moved to Banks in Lancashire in 2013, northeast of Southport.
Rudakubana’s father has been active in the martial arts community in both Southport and Cardiff.
Rudakubana attended karate classes with his father as a child, according to sensei Chico Mbakwe, an instructor in Cardiff, writes The Sun.
A neighbor in Banks describes to Liverpool Echo that the family was “very active” in the local church.
The same neighbor describes the suspect as a “quiet boy,” but that they often heard singing from the family’s home.
– It is a huge shock. The suspect sang when he came home from school. He never went outside. We never saw them. We actually never spoke to them more than saying hello for seven years, and now this has happened, says the neighbor.
The Sun also references an interview The Times conducted with someone Rudakubana participated in music theater with. That person also describes the suspect as shy.
The map shows Southport, where several children were killed, as well as Cardiff and Banks, where the suspect for the knife attack lived.
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