The Somali-born man accused of stabbing an American citizen to death and injuring five others in the Russell Square attack was a ‘quiet, shy pupil who was bullied at his London secondary school’, MailOnline can reveal.
Zakaria Bulhan, 19, moved to the UK from Norway in 2002, and was said to be suffering possible ‘mental health issues’ when he allegedly began silently stabbing his unsuspecting victims in a busy London street last night.
His former friends from Graveney School in Tooting, south London, have now revealed how Chelsea football fan Bulhan was a quiet boy who was bullied in the early stages of secondary school.
One friend said: ‘He was quite quiet, but had friends. He was a little bullied but nothing too extreme.’
It came as his victim was revealed to be 64-year-old Darlene Horton – the wife of a Florida professor who was due to return to her native America.
Retired teacher Darlene Horton, 64 , was due to return to America with her professor husband yesterday but died after being brutally stabbed by a crazed knifeman in Russell Square on Wednesday. The keen tennis player has spent the last few weeks in the UK with her husband, psychology lecturer Richard Wagner, as part of a summer study programme and was due to return to the US.
However, she died in the mass stabbing at about 10.30pm in Russell Square on Wednesday when the Somali-born attacker walked up to his unsuspecting victims and slashed them with a kitchen knife. Ms Horton’s last words were ‘he’s still here’ as she tried to warn others of the attacker. Witnesses said her shocked husband sobbed nearby as her body lay sprawled on the pavement overnight. On Thursday night, it emerged that the man accused of stabbing Ms Horton to death and injuring five others was a ‘quiet, shy pupil who was bullied at his London secondary school’. Zakaria Bulhan, 19, moved to the UK from Norway in 2002, and was said to be suffering possible ‘mental health issues’. As well as killing Ms Horton, the knifeman also injured Israeli holidaymaker Yovel Levkowki, 18, who was slashed across the hand as she approached him to offer help after believing he was a victim. She said today she was ‘lucky to be alive’.
‘I don’t know if it’s luck or fate but it’s a miracle,’ she said. ‘The woman standing next to me died before my eyes.’
Police said the other victims include a British man who remains in a ‘serious but stable’ condition after being stabbed in the stomach. An American man, who suffered chest wounds, an Australian woman who was stabbed in the back and an Australian man who was stabbed in the chest, were all discharged from hospital.