MP hid in Parliamentary office during Westminster attack in fear of attacker
AN MP “barricaded” himself into his Parliamentary office with seven strangers during the terror attack on Westminster.
Andrew Percy barricaded himself into his Parliamentary office
Conservative MP Andrew Percy rescued a group of “panic-stricken” members of the public on private steps outside the House of Commons in the wake of Wednesday’s horror.
Unaware of the precise events, they hid for hours, fearful that a gunman was roaming the Palace of Westminster.
The MP for Brigg and Goole said: “I heard people running up these steps. I told them they couldn’t use the steps. Then I saw their panic-stricken faces. They were talking about gunshots and someone with a knife.
Mr Percy rescued a group of "panic-stricken" members of the public on private steps
I told them to follow me and beckoned them and my staff into my office
“I told them to follow me and beckoned them and my staff into my office. We switched the lights off, closed the curtains, put our phones on silent, barricaded the doors with chairs, and sat tight in the dark. We were just waiting for something to happen but it was all eerily silent.
“For a good two hours after the incident, there was silence. The only people we saw outside were armed police officers.
“We didn’t know if someone was armed and marauding about Parliament, so we kept very quiet.”
Westminster eyewitness: Attacker told me 'stay away'
They hid for hours inside the office
Mr Percy said some in the group were traumatised by what they had witnessed.
Reuben Saunders, an American student at Cambridge University, was among them.
He told the group how he had witnessed the brutal murder of PC Keith Palmer.
Mr Percy said some in the group were traumatised by what they had witnessed
“He was at the gate, I heard screaming,” Reuben said.
“I saw the man on the ground being repeatedly stabbed, or pummelled.”
The student said two or three other police officers arrived, and “there were two or three gunshots”.