By Alexander Smith and Segilola Arisekola -
NBC News
British MP David Amess, from the Conservative Party, died on Friday after being stabbed several times during a public ceremony with citizens, according to official sources.
Amess, 69, was in a Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea, a coastal city about 30 miles east of London, when an individual still unidentified by police attacked him for reasons that are still unknown.
British Conservative lawmaker David Amess, in an official photograph.Getty Images
Police said they had detained a 25-year-old man as a suspect in the murder and recovered a knife, the alleged murder weapon.
Amess was a strong supporter of the Brexit campaign, which saw the United Kingdom leave the European Union.
A devout Catholic, married and father of five children, he was against abortion and championed animal welfare causes.
[Chris Pearson, 25-year-old star of 'Ex on the Beach' is stabbed to death]
In March he called on the prime minister, the conservative Boris Johnson, to step up the fight against knife crime after one of his constituents, 18, was fatally stabbed.
The incident that occurred this Friday has brought to mind the 2016 murder of Labor lawmaker Jo Cox by a far-rightist, who shot and stabbed her in Birstall, a town in northern England, where she was going to meet with citizens.
Ambulances and police patrol cars near the place where British lawmaker David Amess was stabbed. Getty Images
The police appealed for anyone who captured the assault on Amess to hand it over to them.
British politics, mourning
Amess's death was immediately condemned by the entire British political spectrum.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he was "devastated," while opposition Labor Party lawmaker Yvette Cooper called the conservative "one of the kindest and friendliest people you can meet."
The British first lady, Carrie Johnson, also mourned the death of Amess, "a great lover of animals and a true gentleman."
Brendan Cox, the husband of the murdered Labor lawmaker in 2016, wrote on Twitter: "My thoughts and love go out to David's family. They are the only thing that matters now. This brings everything back to my memory."
