LONDON — A teenager suspected of fatally stabbing a Florida woman and injuring five other people in Central London in August pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday.
The attack immediately raised fears about terrorism. It occurred less than three weeks after a terrorist attack on a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, and less than two weeks after a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Munich.
But the man in London, Zakaria Bulhan, 19, who was detained at the scene, was found to have paranoid schizophrenia, a serious mental illness, and did not have any apparent political motivation.
Bulhan pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and five counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He faces up to life in prison. Sentencing proceedings began Monday and were to continue Tuesday.
“Bulhan’s actions caused an enormous amount of fear and distress, with initial concerns this incident may be linked to terrorism,” said Detective Inspector Tony Lynes of the Metropolitan Police. “This was quickly found not to be the case, and we now know Bulhan was suffering a severe episode of mental health.”
The crime occurred in Bloomsbury, a part of London known for its literary associations. It is home to the British Museum.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 3, police began receiving emergency calls about a man with a knife in Russell Square. They arrived within six minutes to find the American woman, Darlene Horton. She was pronounced dead at 11:06 p.m.
The police saw a man who matched witnesses’ descriptions of the assailant. According to the police account, when they ordered him to stop, he started screaming and running; when he refused to drop a knife, they used a stun gun to subdue him.
The man, later identified as Bulhan, told hospital staff “he had been hearing voices and thought everyone was trying to get him,” according to the police account.
Bulhan was interviewed later and refused to take part in an identification lineup, but told officers, “It was definitely me.” He was charged with murder and five counts of attempted murder.
Horton, 64, a retired teacher, was in London to join her husband, Richard Wagner, a professor of psychology at Florida State University in Tallahassee who was teaching at a summer program. The couple had planned to fly home to Florida the next day.
Contacted by e-mail Monday, Wagner declined to comment.
Wounded in the attack were a 67-year-old British man; a 23-year-old Australian woman; a 59-year-old American man; a 40-year-old Australian man; and an 18-year-old Israeli woman.