Theresa May safe after the incident
The Metropolitan Police announced they received a number of reports at around 2.40pm including a woman in the River Thames, a car knocking people down on the bridge and reports of a knife-wielding man near the Houses of Parliament.
It was reported that a woman had died from injuries sustained on the bridge after the SUV mounted the pavement and mowed down pedestrians. Many more were left badly injured on the road and members of the public ran to their aid. One woman was plucked from the River Thames, seriously injured but alive, according to medics.
A Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister, Theresa May, was “safe” as an emergency services helicopter was seen landing in Parliament Square, which has been cordoned off and closed to traffic.
“We are working closely with other members of the emergency services at the scene, with our priority being to ensure patients receive the medical help they need as quickly as possible. We have declared a major incident and our priority is to assess patients and ensure that they are treated and taken to hospital as soon as possible,” London Ambulance said in a statement. It remains unclear exactly how many attackers may have been involved in the terror incident, though it is believed it was one knife-wielding man behind the mowing down of pedestrians and the attack on the police officer.
Commons Leader David Lidington, who suspended the Parliament session as events unfolded outside, told MPs the “alleged assailant was shot by armed police”.
“It seems that a police officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. An air ambulance is currently attending the scene to remove the casualties,” Lidington said.. Journalist Quentin Letts of the
newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building. “He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates ... He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick,” Letts said.
“The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs (members of parliament) and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him.”