UPDATED: At least three people, including a police officer, were killed near the British Houses of Parliament in London during a wild attack that’s being treated “as a terrorist incident,” multiple reports say.
“Officers — including firearms officers — remain on the scene and we are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise,” police said.
A female has been recovered from the River Thames alive but with injuries, a Port of London Authority spokesman told CNN.
Images showed a car crashed into the perimeter gate of Parliament, and witnesses later told CNN that they had seen the vehicle mow down pedestrians.
David Lidington, leader of the House of Commons, also reported a stabbing.
“It seems that a police officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police,” he said.
FIRST REPORT: An assailant was shot outside the British parliament by armed police, the leader of the House of Commons said on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 after loud bangs were heard and a Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen injured people on a nearby bridge.
A parliamentary official earlier said two people had been shot outside parliament and the building was in lockdown. The House of Commons session was suspended and members of parliament who were in the chamber were told to remain there.
Police said they had been called to an incident at Westminster Bridge, officers were on the scene and it was being treated as a firearms incident.
Just seen police shoot a man outside parliament, appeared to be wielding a knife
— Charlie Cooper (@CharlieCooper8) March 22, 2017
A Reuters reporter inside the building said medical staff were treating two people inside the gates of the parliamentary estate.
Nearby Westminster underground train station was closed at the request of police.
Photographs by Reuters staffer Toby Melville showed two people lying on Westminster Bridge, bleeding heavily.
This is a developing story. Check back for more details.
via Reuters, CNN
