87-year-old who raised money for Ukraine stabbed to death, suspect arrested after tense standoff
A 44-year-old man was arrested in London early Thursday after a tense 30-minute standoff with cops for the murder of an 87-year-old man. The man, whose identity has not been revealed, is accused of fatally attacking Thomas O'Halloran, a beloved member of the Irish community in Ealing who was raising money for Ukraine war victims by playing accordion outside a Tesco store and South Greenford railway station, on Tuesday. CCTV captured footage of O'Halloran 20 minutes prior to the attack, which happened about a mile away from the Greenford Tesco store.
Store worker Ronak Patel was able to identify Thomas from a footage where he is seen going back and forth on his scooter where he kept donations in a yellow box. Patel stated that Thomas would travel that route twice every day to and fro from Tesco where he went to play his accordion. More obtained footage captured the last moments of the 87-year-old man before the fatal attack.
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The accused was arrested at a location in Southall, West London.
Videos of O'Halloran surfaced after police shared pictures of a man whom they wanted to identify "as a matter of urgency." The man in question was wearing gray shorts, a dark coloured t-shirt, a white baseball cap, and white builder style gloves. A Tesco security guard recognised this picture to be of a local shoplifter who had earlier tried to steal from the store.
"He wasn't in the store yesterday but the old man was playing, he plays outside here every afternoon. I think the man will have followed or chased Thomas. He was raising quite a lot of money," the guard told the Mirror.
According to police reports, Thomas was attacked and stabbed in Western Avenue, sometime around or after 4 pm.
He then managed to travel around 75 yards to Runnymede Gardens where he flagged down a passerby for help. Jim Eastwood, detective chief inspector who is also leading investigations on this case, earlier stated, "We are keen to identify the man in the CCTV images as a matter of urgency.
After the suspect was apprehended, the Metropolitan Police conveyed their heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped in nabbing the murderer responsible for O'Halloran's death. “I would like to thank the public for their overwhelming support following this horrific incident. As a result of the release of a CCTV image yesterday, an arrest has been made and this investigation is progressing at pace. Mr O’Halloran’s family have been updated with this development and continue to be supported by specially trained officers,” Jim Eastwood, DCI and leader of investigation in O'Halloran's case, stated.