Manchester attack: Plato codeword sent armed police in minutes to shoot suspect

Moments after the chilling word “Plato” rang out through police communications at 9.31am Armed Response Vehicles were screaming towards Heaton Park Synagogue, Manchester.

A quick-thinking caller to 999 had told police a man had been stabbed and people had been run over. Armed police were deployed, minutes later shooting a suspect - one of his apparent victims lying nearby in a pool of blood. The codeword “Plato” alerted armed police that a ‘marauding terror attack’ was underway and needed to be closed down urgently as cars called ‘gunships’ screamed towards the scene of horror.

At 9.38 the first shots rang out as the terror attacker was wounded and then when he slowly rose again, fearing he was about to let off a suicide bomb, he was killed. Almost simultaneously ambulances arrived at the scene to save the lives of the injured.

Locals were heard at the scene saying “he’s got a bomb” before one of the armed police officers fired another round into him after ordering watching public to move away. Two victims died at the synagogue , three were injured and the suspect is also believed to have died at the scene after Judaism’s holiest of days was marred by horror on a UK street.

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READ MORE: Manchester attack updates: Suspect in synagogue bloodbath pictured

Notably Yom Kippur is a day of atonement and a fresh start, a deal with the faith’s god in which Jewish people pray and repent, liberated by their new start in life. It is a miracle there were not more victims and perhaps testament to police training that they were able quickly to neutralise the threat and avoid a lengthy and bloody siege.

And this will reignite fears that anti-semitism is on the rise in the UK and that other attacks could follow. Armed response vehicles were likely on patrol in Manchester when the alert went up and were fortunately able to close down the threat within seven minutes.

The relative calm with which the police dealt with the killer is reassuring, ordering people to get back as they went back to the wounded attacker and killed him. A voice was heard saying : “Mate he’s got a bomb on him. Shoot him. He’s going to press the button.” Moments later the suspect died from another gunshot.

A horribly injured man, possibly a victim of the attack is seen surrounded by blood lying next to a car nearby, possibly having already died. Police and army bomb disposal units were called in to the scene, perhaps to neutralise a perceived threat from a suspicious package in a car.

Officials have poured praise on the local witness who alerted the police as soon as the car-ramming and stabbing attack got underway. The swiftness of the police response may have meant they were able to prevent the attacker gaining entry to the building, avoiding a siege scenario.

Though the killing of the attacker was witnessed by onlookers as he was outside the complex fortunately he was wounded and then killed. Police and MI5 officers based in Manchester will now be poring over the attacker’s records, his home, laptop, phone and anything that can offer a detailed background.

Crucially they will want to ensure this was a lone wolf attack and that a wider conspiracy is not involved. They will be examining weeks of local CCTV to see if the attacker launched ‘hostile surveillance’ missions, scoping the attack scene and plotting his murder spree.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ordered more police officers to be deployed to protect synagogues. His phone will reveal where he has been travelling, whether he has visited this scene before, perhaps where he bought the murder weapon.

But we will have to wait to see if, as has happened before, the attacker was known to police and MI5 counter-terror officers. And if this had happened in a country village it is probably the police response would have been so delayed it may have been far more horrific.