An Italian photographer who images of the London Bridge terror attack in 2017 reveals the mixed reactions from the world media to his picture of an attacker being shot dead by police.  

Gabriele Scioto captured the moment police shot dead one of the three attackers outside Wheatsheaf pub. Eight people were killed in the attack which was carried out by van and stabbings on foot.

Gabriele Sciotto said, “I ended up in the middle of it all.” He was going home from watching a football match when the panic began to unfold around him.

“That’s why I had to use my iPhone and didn’t have my camera”, he added.

First struck by disbelief he said, “I didn’t think it was anything real, I thought it was just people panicking because you have that general atmosphere in London, people being scared on the internet of terrorism and everything.”

Seemingly not struck by the same panic Sciottio said, “It was interesting to watch for sure as a photographer. That is basically the reason why I stayed.”

The attack happened at began two minutes before 10pm.

Scioto said, “It was impossible to reach out to anyone I think because it was so late. I eventually went to the Guardian offices where one of the editors was so that’s why the pictures came out.

“Once it was on BBC it was literally worldwide known. It was an experience because I had to do interviews. It was a lot of stress from the media. Over time I don’t think it had any major impact on me aside from being a life experience.”

The reaction to the images was mixed.

“Other reporters were really surprised I was able to take the images, while I had other people emailing me about the fact the terror attack might be fake. Others were harassing me about the idea that I had made money out of it and dead people. Others were thanking me for taking pictures. Literally all sorts of things because it was such worldwide spread news, so everyone had a different opinion about it” Scioto said.  

Sciotio addresses how this shocking event impacted him.

“I feel alright about it. I guess part of the thing is that I had to talk about it and go back so many times. I wasn’t even shocked in the moment; I was being very rational about it. Lots of people die every day much worse honestly. It doesn’t feel like it’s something I can base my life or that I can be stressed about. I’m sorry for the people that got hurt and their families, honestly, it must be awful but, on my side, I feel fine.”