Farewell to a gentleman: Online community rallies behind beloved busker old Tom with RIP Thomas trending all night after the pensioner, 87, was found dead after fatal stabbing
- Social media remembers busker Thomas O’Halloran with RIP Thomas trending
- Hundreds took to Twitter to share their memories and tributes to Irish-born man
- Beloved community fundraiser was stabbed to death in Greenford, west London
Social media was awash with tributes to beloved busker Thomas O’Halloran after the pensioner was brutally stabbed to death in broad daylight earlier this week.
The ‘RIP Thomas’ hashtag was trending on Twitter for hours on late Wednesday evening as people were quick to pay their respects to a warm and charitable man, with the online community sharing their raw outpouring of grief.
Mr O’Halloran, 87, had spent many an afternoon collecting funds for charitable causes in the Greenford, west London area before he was knifed to death in what detectives so far believe to be a street robbery gone wrong.
Flowers and cards were left outside the Tesco superstore where the pensioner was last seen alive less than 20 minutes before he took his fateful final journey after a day’s fundraising efforts.
Friends suspect the well-known community fundraiser may have been followed by someone in the run up to the stabbing who ‘had been watching him collect his charity money’ that afternoon before launching their fatal attack.
Mr O’Halloran, 87, was riding a mobility scooter in Greenford, West London, when he was stabbed to death earlier this week
The ‘RIP Thomas’ hashtag was trending on Twitter for hours on late Wednesday evening as people were quick to pay their respects to a warm and charitable man, with the online community sharing their raw outpouring of grief
A well-recognised face among the local community, residents and those who crossed paths with the Irish-born Mr O’Halloran were left devastated at the news of his death.
Thousands took to Twitter to remember the family man whose enthusiasm for charitable causes in life knew no bounds.
Amateur band The Reels, who shared a clip of the moment they met Mr O’Halloran while he played his accordion outside Tesco’s, tweeted their disbelief last night.
They wrote: ‘I cannot believe I’m writing this I met this wonderful man Thomas O’Halloran this June, playing tunes outside Tesco’s in Perivale.
‘He was 87 years of age! This gentleman, was stabbed to death on his mobility scooter in broad daylight yesterday afternoon in Greenford!’
Others simply shared images of musical lover Mr O’Halloran during his fundraising pomp with the trending hashtag RIP Thomas.
Meanwhile, a section of online commenters were left furious at the attack and openly questioned the ‘evil creature’ who stabbed the pensioner to death.
Broadcaster Dominique Samuels tweeted: ‘What sort of evil creature stabs an innocent elderly man in his 80s on a mobility scooter?
‘There is too much darkness in this world. RIP Thomas.’
Another person asked: ‘What kind of awful world as we living in? A poor old man stabbed to death in a mobility scooter.
‘How much lower can it go? Sadly, Thomas O’Halloran is not the first… and will surely not be the last victim’.
Detectives are understood to be hunting an alleged ‘prolific shoplifter’ who is wanted for questioning in connection with the fatal stabbing of beloved 87-year-old busker Thomas O’Halloran who was killed in broad daylight following a ‘street robbery gone wrong’ in a row over the pensioner’s charity cash
Mr O’Halloran, 87, was riding a mobility scooter in Greenford, West London, when he was stabbed to death yesterday
Mr O’Halloran, 87, had spent many an afternoon collecting funds for charitable causes in the Greenford, west London area before he was knifed to death in what detectives so far believe to be a street robbery gone wrong
A police cordon was set up around Mr O’Halloran’s mobility scooter (above) that was left at the scene of the fatal stabbing in Greenford, west London yesterday
Friends and family were also quick to praise the humble life of a ‘very good and kind’ man who touched the hearts of all those he met.
One friend, who had known the retired engineer for more than 20 years, told MailOnline: ‘Someone must have been watching him collect his charity money then followed him.
‘An elderly man on a mobility scooter is an easy target and you wouldn’t expect them to put up much of a fight. It’s a despicable crime.’
Relatives of Mr O’Halloran paid powerful tribute to the beloved busker with the pensioner’s grandson, Joey, 20, telling MailOnline of his family’s ‘complete shock’ at the horrifying killing.
He said: ‘The family are still trying to take in what has happened, it is a complete shock. My father called me this morning, he was very upset and didn’t talk much. I just don’t understand why someone would do this to a defenceless old man’.
It came as chilling footage showed the final fateful journey of a beloved 87-year-old pensioner who was stabbed to death in a ‘botched robbery attempt’ after spending the afternoon busking to raise money for victims of war.
Adjusting a blue charity collection box, sprayed with yellow paint to represent the Ukraine flag, Thomas O’Halloran, 87, drives past a Tesco store in Greenford, west London just minutes before he was brutally knifed.
CCTV footage shows the much-loved busker 20 minutes before he was attacked in broad daylight in an alleyway next to the busy A40 Western Avenue, in what is believed to be lawless London’s 64th murder so far this year.
The footage was taken at 3.48pm as he passed a newsagent shop close to the superstore. Police were called 18 minutes later at 4.06pm after Mr O’Halloran was ambushed as he headed towards Greenford Station a mile away.
The busker was fatally attacked in Greenford, west London on Tuesday while raising money for Ukraine war victims in the latest suspected murder to shake Britain’s lawless capital that has seen six murder investigations in the last four days alone.
Officers yesterday released images of a ‘dangerous individual’ seen fleeing the scene of the attack on Mr O’Halloran, 87 – who was originally from Ennistymon in County Clare, Ireland – and said officers want to identify him urgently.
Local security guards at the Tesco superstore where Mr O’Halloran frequently busked outside warned the alleged knifeman had been kicked out of local shops on suspicion of shoplifting on many other occasions.
Police, who described the killing as unprovoked, are understood to be investigating robbery as their main line of enquiry. The Metropolitan Police did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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