Thursday 18 August 2022 01:52 AM Online community rallies behind beloved busker Thomas O'Halloran with 'RIP ... trends now
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,
