A man has been shot by police at London Bridge in Central London, following what police described as a stabbing which is being treated as a terror incident.
London Bridge was the site of a terror attack in 2017.
Police confirmed that a suspect had been shot and died at the scene, and several others had been injured. Assistant commissioner Neil Basu said the suspect was wearing a hoax suicide vest.
Several videos circulating on Twitter appeared to show a group of people wrestling a man to the ground, before two armed police shot one of the men.
Some people were “seriously” injured, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement outside London’s police headquarters, Scotland Yard.
“What’s remarkable about the images we’ve seen is the breathtaking heroism of members of the public who literally ran towards danger not knowing what confronted them,” Khan said. “We do know from the statement given by Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu that there appears to be a device on the suspect. Members of the public didn’t realize at the time that was a hoax device. They really are the best of us; another example of the bravery of Londoners.”
"Due to reports the suspect may have had an explosive device, specialist officers attended the scene and wide cordons are in place to ensure there remains no further danger to the public
We believe a device that was strapped to the body of the suspect is a hoax explosive device"
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 29, 2019
Police said that officers were called to a stabbing at a building on the north side of the bridge at 1.58 p.m. local time.
The BBC journalist John McManus was at the scene, and indicated in a call to BBC News that it was police who fired the shots, after he saw what he thought to be a fight on the bridge. People were trying to hold somebody down, he said, and then two shots were fired. After crowds were moved away by police, he continued, several more shots were fired.
Ambulances and several police vans arrived quickly to the scene, which is near the Shard skyscraper to the south and the City of London financial hub to the north.
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Twitter they were in the early stages of an investigation into an incident at the location.
In June 2017, three terrorists who were inspired by ISIS mounted a vehicle attack on London Bridge, running down pedestrians in a van before attacking people with knives. Eight people were killed. The attack came days before the 2017 British election; there are currently less than two weeks to go until Britain’s next election.
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