Security-guard-avoided-manchester-arena-bomber-for-fear-of-being-called-racist
 

A security guard had a “bad feeling” when he saw Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi but did not approach him for fear of being branded a racist, a public inquiry has heard.

Kyle Lawler said he was stood 10 or 15ft away from Abedi, who had been reported to security by a member of the public who thought he looked “dodgy”.

The Showsec security guard, aged 18 at the time of the terror attack, told police in a statement read to the inquiry sitting in Manchester: “I felt unsure about what to do.

“It’s very difficult to define a terrorist. For all I knew he might well be an innocent Asian male. I did not want people to think I am stereotyping him because of his race.

“I was scared of being wrong and being branded a racist if I got it wrong and would have got into trouble. It made me hesitant.

“I wanted to get it right and not mess it up by overreacting or judging someone by their race.”

Abedi, 22, dressed all in black and carrying a large, bulky rucksack, was spotted and reported to security at 10.15pm on 22 May 2017.

The Manchester-born bomber, whose parents were Libyan, was sat on steps near the back of the foyer of the arena, known as the City Room, awaiting the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

Around eight minutes before he detonated his device, Showsec steward Mohammed Ali Agha alerted Lawler to the report by a member of the public and both began observing Abedi.



Lawler said: “At that time he was just an Asian male sat amongst a group of white people.

“As Ali turned to have a look he’s clocked that we are looking at him. He’s become fidgety with his hands. No sudden movements. He was watching us, watching him.

“He would kind of look, slightly look away and look back at us.”

In his statement to police, Lawler said: “I just had a bad feeling about him but did not have anything to justify that.”

He said Abedi was “fidgety and sweating” and he said he panicked slightly and was “conflicted” because he thought something was wrong but could not put his finger on it, the inquiry heard.

Lawler said he attempted to use his radio to alert the security control room but claimed he could not get through due to radio traffic.

He then left the area and took up his position on a walkway bridge outside the City Room and made no further attempt to raise the alarm.

Lawler agreed he simply “gave up” trying to use the radio and just got on with his job.

Around five minutes later, Abedi got to his feet and walked across the room towards the crowd emerging from the arena at the end of the gig at 10.31pm.

He was smiling, the inquiry heard, seconds before he detonated his home-made rucksack bomb, packed with thousands of nuts and bolts, murdering 22 bystanders and injuring hundreds more.

Lawler agreed that on five separate occasions after the bombing, he made statements, verbally or in writing, where he “deliberately shortened” the time between him leaving the City Room to the bomb going off, “so no one would say, why didn’t you do something?” the inquiry was told.

He said: “I had no recollection of minutes or seconds. I had a guilty feeling, I had a lot of blame on myself.”

The public inquiry is looking at the background circumstances before and during the bombing and is expected to last into next spring.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-called-racist

....the thing is, if he had a ‘bad feeling’ but there was no justification for that bad feeling...that’s difficult as well...but if there had been specific reasons, well that would be entirely different...didn’t he also change what he said several times in the aftermath as well...

Very young to be a security guard? though I suppose given it was a predominantly family event, ordinarily it would have been fine

He said Abedi was “fidgety and sweating” and he said he panicked slightly and was “conflicted” because he thought something was wrong but could not put his finger on it, the inquiry heard.

that is more than a bad feeling surely?

...the thing is, if he had told a superior../...a colleague etc...that this person seemed fidgety etc and he didn’t feel right about it, it was making him uneasy etc...then he’d have given the reason required...any action from then would have been what was then decided...

i would have thought the back pack alone would have drawn suspicion, and security have a right to confiscate or search. That said, we keep attaching responsibility to the youngest and junior members in things like this and it's just not right. The bottom line is that experienced security personnel should have been in place, on the ground, that knew how to handle situations like that

Lawler said he attempted to use his radio to alert the security control room but claimed he could not get through due to radio traffic.

...yeah, the backpack would be another reason as well as the fidgety and sweating...so there were reasons and there was justification and yet it’s also been said that there were no justifications, just a ‘bad feeling’...so I agree, this isn’t something that we’re able to judge I don’t think...

young lad being thrown to the wolves basically, its very easy in hindsight for all of us to say he should have done this/that, but none of us think we are going to be unlucky enough to be caught up in a terror attack

It's almost like racial profiling has never been brought up before and fingers pointed

...again it’s quite conflicting so very difficult, he was afraid to raise any suspicions because ‘racism’ and yet he did attempt to raise those suspicions but couldn’t get through...and there was no justification for those suspicions, just a feeling etc...and yet there was justification as someone was acting agitated...and from the beginning he seems to have given very conflicting information...

...I don’t think that he’s being thrown to the wolves or blamed in any way...it’s more just not being entirely sure of the ‘I was reluctant to say because racism’ narrative...obviously, the whole thing has been awful for him and all involved, just shocking...