Husband: 'Fight Against the Hatred That Killed' Jo Cox

British lawmaker killed by shooter while meeting with constituents
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 16, 2016 4:29 PM CDT
Husband: 'Fight Against the Hatred That Killed' Jo Cox
British lawmaker Jo Cox was killed by a shooter Thursday.   (Yui Mok/PA via AP, File)

British lawmaker Jo Cox was killed by an attacker Thursday while preparing to meet with constituents at a local library. She was a 41-year-old Labour MP and mother of two. Here's what you need to know:

  • The Mirror has a profile of Cox, whom it calls a "rising star" in British politics. She was an advocate for Syrian refugees and entered parliament in 2015 after time with Oxfam and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
  • Quartz reprints the full text of Cox's first speech in parliament, in which she talks about immigration and integration, saying, “We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”
  • Cox's husband tells the Telegraph his wife would have wanted people to "fight against the hatred that killed her." “Hate doesn't have a creed, race, or religion; it is poisonous.”
  • The BBC has a roundup of reactions to Cox's death from friends and politicians, who called her “quite simply one of the nicest, most decent women ever to enter the House of Commons."
  • Thomas Mair, the man suspected of killing Cox, is “a quiet man who was friendly but appeared to be a loner," the Financial Times reports. The 52-year-old was unemployed and lived with his grandmother until her death.
  • The Telegraph explains what happened on “democracy's darkest day in decades" and how Cox's accessibility to her constituents made it easier for her to be attacked.
  • Cox's death is reminiscent of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabby Giffords five years ago in Arizona, USA Today reports. Giffords calls Cox "courageous and hardworking."
(More Jo Cox stories.)

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