Mark Kindschuh, a 19-year-old Boston College student studying abroad in London, was there when three terrorists attacked the London Bridge Saturday night.
The three men – identified as Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba – drove a van into a crowd of pedestrians on the bridge and stabbed several people at nearby Borough Market before the police shot and killed them. The attack left seven dead and 48 injured.
What Happened?
Kindschuh and friends were inside Wheatsheaf Pub in Borough Market when the chaos erupted. They hid under tables in the back as dozens of people ran inside looking for safety. One man, who the BBC reported appeared to be a Sheik man, collapsed near Kindschuh, who quickly sprung into action.
“When I reflect on this, that point is when it went from lifesaving to life-sacrificing,” Kindschuh’s father, also named Mark, told Fox News on Tuesday. “There is a difference. When he made the decision – that is a different category of exceptional.”
“All I could see was one man at the front on the ground with a pool of blood forming,” the student told ABC News. “You couldn’t really see it, because there was so much blood around his head, but I searched around with my hands, and it was on the back of his head.”
Kindschuh removed his belt and wrapped it around the man’s head to try and stop the bleeding. He then ran outside to try and find some medical help where police yelled at him to get back inside before shooting one of the alleged attackers.
“He could see it happen,” his father recounted. “The situation was chaotic.”
His father, who runs the emergency department at Coney Island Hospital in New York, said he did not believe his son was feint hearted about blood or injuries, but he never thought something like this would happen to him.
“The man is alive because he had the wherewithal to act,” Dr. Kindschuh said, adding that his son tried to go visit the man at the hospital on Tuesday, but was unable to get in.
Boston College has canceled the remainder of the study abroad program and Mark is set to return home in the next few days. A political science major, Kindschuh is set to intern at Sen. Chuck Schumer’s New York offices.
The 19-year-old is also a part of the ROTC, meaning he will serve in the U.S. military upon graduation. His father was unsure of this path, but said that Saturday’s actions have changed his mind.
“I’m in a comfort zone now that he’s made the right choice and I don’t have any qualms of him serving in the military,” he said. “He has the ability to lead, for sacrifice and to not let his battalion down. I’m very good with it all.”
He added: “I understand my son more than I did before. Your 19-year-old is now a full grown man. I’m good. He’s not needy anymore in any way, shape or form. It’s beautiful just to learn that.”
London Bride Attack
On Saturday, June 3, Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba drove a hired van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in the area around Borough Market. The trio of terrorists killed seven individuals and injured 48 more before armed officers killed all three within eight minutes of receiving a 999 call.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for its “fighters” carrying out the attack.
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