British officials have named the soldier killed in the vicious attack that took place on Wednesday. He is 25-year-old Lee Rigby, an army drummer.

Rigby played at the royal palaces, has a two-year-old son, and joined the army in 2006. In 2009, he was deployed to Afghanistan. He was a machine gunner and was very involved with infantry duties. In 2011, he was deployed to Woolich, London, where he served as an Army recruiter. On Wednesday, he was struck by a car, killed, and beheaded by radical Islamic extremists.

According to CNN, Rigby was a part of the Army Recruiting Team in London and was part of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. His death has attracted worldwide attention because his slaying scene was captured on a cell phone camera and leaked on the Internet.

The footage shows a British man, reportedly from Nigeria, with bloodied hands, holding a meat cleaver and a knife. He said he carried out the killing because he believes that "Muslims are dying daily." He tried to justify his motive by apologizing to the women and children but then quickly added that it had to be done; “…an eye for and eye.” He and a second person are now under arrest and being treated in a London hospital for injuries suffered during a confrontation with police.

The Washington Post reports that the identity of man in the video is Michael Adebolajo. He grew up in a devout Christian family in suburban London and converted to Islam a decade ago. The alleged co-attacker has remained unnamed, but further reports suggest that he was a Nigerian-born naturalized Briton.
British officials arrested two other people, a 29-year-old man and a woman. They are also under investigation on suspicion of conspiring to commit murder.

People who knew Adebolajo describe him a “rambunctious, regular guy, who appeared to have slipped into Islamist extremism.” A former classmate of his, Paul Leech, expressed his feelings about him through Twitter saying, “How could someone who was a laugh and a nice bloke at school turn out like that?”

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Britain has experienced home grown terrorism. And in the wake of the Boston bombing attacks in the United States, it leaves people worried and terrified about the future. Huge concern is growing over the exposure of Islamic extremism worldwide. Government officials and citizens have to work together in order to prevent attacks like these from happening again as much as possible. The risk of radicalization is growing everyday because of high exposure to the Internet, where it’s easier to gather information. It is a shame that attacks like these have happened. The recent attacks have left much of the UK and US shaken.

Atif Iqbal, a Muslim community outreach worker in Birmingham, shared his thoughts on the attack saying, “Everyone is horrified and shocked, and emotions are raw right now. It’s frustrating and so unfortunate that people like this can just slip through.”