LONDON—Investigators have concluded that the 52-year-old man who killed four people in a car-and-knife attack near Parliament made a test run in the days before, two security officials said Thursday. 
 
 U.K. investigators are still trying to piece together the motives and planning behind Khalid Masood’s attack last week, the worst in Britain since a series of coordinated bombings in 2005 killed 52 people. 
 
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 Westminster coroner opens and adjourns inquest into death of man who killed four people in Westminster terrorist attack 
 
 Khalid Masood, who killed four people in a terrorist attack in Westminster, died of a gunshot wound to the chest, an inquest has heard. 
 
 Opening and adjourning the inquest into Masood’s death, Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox was told the attacker was identified through fingerprints and DNA. 
 
 Masood, also known as Adrian Elms and Adrian Ajao, killed three people when he drove his 4x4 Hyundai Tucson along the pavement of Westminster Bridge before stabbing to death his fourth victim, PC Keith Palmer, an unarmed member of the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command unit who was guarding an entrance to the Houses of Parliament. 
 
 More than 35 people were injured in the attack, with wounds ranging from cuts and bruises to extensive bone and skull fractures. One person remains in a coma with extensive injuries. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Khalid Masood, who was also known as Adrian Elms and Adrian Ajao. Photograph: Reuters 
 
 The inquest into Masood’s death was opened and adjourned until a pre-inquest review on 19 May at the Royal Courts of Justice. 
 
 The senior investigating officer, Det Supt John Crossley, told the hearing: “Masood was challenged by armed police and shot. He was taken to St Mary’s hospital by ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 15:35 on 22 March.” 
 
 Crossley said there were in excess of 1,500 potential witnesses, of whom at least 140 were considered significant. 
 
 Inquests into the victims’ deaths opened and adjourned on Wednesday. Palmer’s cause of death was given as haemorrhage and a stab wound to the chest, the inquest heard. 
 
 American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, and teacher Aysha Frade, 44, died at the scene on the bridge after being struck by the car. Cochran died of multiple injuries and Frade died of head and chest injuries, the inquest heard. 
 
 Leslie Rhodes, 75, was taken to King’s College hospital but the retired window cleaner died three days later of a head injury. 
 
 A 30-year-old man remains in custody in relation to the incident and a 32-year-old was released on bail. Ten other people were arrested and released without further action, including Masood’s partner, Rohey Hydara. 

 A manager at the hotel in East Sussex where Khalid Masood stayed before carrying out the Westminster attack has spoken of her shock. 
 
 Debbi Hall said Masood came across as a "very pleasant man" when she met him. 
 
 "He was in fact a very dark person who was about to cause a lot of damage to people's lives," she said. 
 
 Masood killed a total of four people after driving his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge on 22 March and fatally stabbing a police officer. 
 
 Masood was shot dead within the grounds of the Palace of Westminster by police after attacking PC Keith Palmer. 
 
 "It was a tremendous shock, for lots of reasons. Namely, that someone could have made me feel so intrigued by them, when in actual fact he wasn't the person he came across to be. 
 
 "He was very well presented, he was dressed modernly, he was very pleasant to me, very smiling and in the booking comments after he had left I actually wrote 'nice man'. 
 
 "I felt quite disturbed that someone had influenced me enough to feel that they were a nice man when clearly in his head when he was speaking to me he also had other thoughts of what he was planning to do which was actually quite dark and going to have quite an effect on other people and cause them great sorrow." 
 
 Ms Hall said she first met Masood when he came up to the hotel reception desk looking for a room for the night on the day before the attack. 
 
 She said he was quite "calm, confident and had no agenda". 
 
 "I asked him to fill out the details of his car registration and his address for me," she continued. "At this point, he said 'I don't know my car registration' and he took the registration form and went out to the car park to fill out his registration number." 
 
 Masood's inquest was opened by Westminster coroner Fiona Wilcox on Thursday and adjourned until May. 
 
 The inquest heard that Masood died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. 
 
 The court was told that Kent-born Masood, who lived in Birmingham, mounted the kerb twice in a rented Hyundai car as he sped across Westminster Bridge. 
 
 When the 52-year-old mounted it a third time, he crashed the vehicle and then ran into the Palace of Westminster grounds armed with two knives. 
 
 Senior investigating officer Supt John Crossley said Masood had been challenged by armed police, before being shot and killed by an officer. 
 
 In total Masood's attack lasted just 82 seconds. 
 
 An inquest into Masood's four victims - PC Palmer, 48, US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, and college worker Aysha Frade, 44 - was opened and adjourned on Wednesday. 
 
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– Khalid Masood, the man behind Britain's worst terrorist attack in more than a decade, prepared in advance for last week's London rampage but not in the way a trained terrorist would be expected to, security officials say. According to GPS data from his vehicle, the 52-year-old performed a test run on the Saturday before the attack, driving over Westminster Bridge toward Parliament as he did on the following Wednesday. This shows the attack wasn't carried out on the spur of the moment, though a trained attacker would have carried out the trial run "on the same day of the week, or at least a weekday, to ensure the security measures and traffic were similar," officials tell the Wall Street Journal. ISIS claimed Masood was a "soldier," though police believe he acted alone, possibly after having become radicalized online. In an attack that killed four people in the space of 82 seconds, Masood drove into pedestrians on the bridge before fatally stabbing a police officer. At an inquest Thursday, a coroner said he died from a gunshot wound to the chest, the Guardian reports. A manager at the hotel where Masood stayed the night before the attack tells the BBC that she found it very disturbing that somebody who seemed likable was a "very dark person who was about to cause a lot of damage to people's lives." "He was very well presented, he was dressed modernly, he was very pleasant to me," she says.