A terrorist wielding two 30cm-long knives could have been heading towards the British prime minister's office "looking for another victim" when he was shot dead, an inquest heard.
Khalid Masood, 52, repeatedly stabbed police officer Keith Palmer in Westminster's New Palace Yard, London, and appeared "animated and frenzied" as he lumbered over to the MPs' entrance to the British House of Commons, the Old Bailey heard on Thursday.
Witnesses described the horrific scenes at the Palace of Westminster before Masood was brought down by a plainclothes officer, who shot him three times.
Masood had crashed his hired 4WD into railings and run into New Palace Yard where he stabbed Constable Palmer.
He stood over the officer, stabbing him, before being distracted by another officer.
Mortally injured, Const Palmer got back to his feet but collapsed again on the cobbles as he bled out from wounds to his head and back.
James West, who was inside Westminster's Portcullis House building, said Masood was "stabbing downwards, like you see in a horror film... in a Hollywood stabbing motion".
Carl Knight, who was on the top deck of a bus, heard the "load bang" as Masood crashed his Hyundai.
On being approached by a pedestrian, Masood said "f*** off, you don't want to mess with me," Knight said in a statement.
A woman clutching a child said, "don't kill me", while the "aggressive" knife-wielding man ran towards Carriage Gates, the entry gates to the Palace of Westminster, behind a screaming crowd of people.
Knight told how Const Palmer grappled with Masood before he was stabbed.
John Campbell said the attacker seemed "animated and frenzied" afterwards, adding: "He was looking for another victim."
Constable James Ross, who was on duty close to Const Palmer, said a passer-by shouted in his face: "There's a man with bloody big knives running this way".
"The attacker was walking towards me. He had the knives in his hands," Const Ross said.
The police officer said he's never been able to remember what happened next, but has since since it on CCTV footage.
"I have run to the gate, then stopped, turned around, then (I was) running at the suspect with some kind of plan in my head to try and tackle him before he got anyone else."
Gareth Patterson QC, for families of some of the victims, said the attack came after Prime Minister Theresa May had finished Prime Minister's Questions, a session of answering MPs' questions in the Chamber.
Senior parliamentary assistant Antonia Kerridge confirmed the members' entrance eventually leads to the Chamber, through a network of corridors and rooms.
Kerridge confirmed the prime minister, and other ministers, would "presumably" have an office in the building beyond the entrance.
The attack on Const Palmer came after Masood had mowed down and killed four pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.
Australian Associated Press
