In London near the Westminster Palace, a vehicle struck multiple pedestrians while a knife-wielding assailant was killed after stabbing a policeman.
ADVERTISEMENTAn attack nearby the Palace of Westminster in London occured on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 22. A car mounted the sidewalk and plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge leading to multiple serious injuries with one death arleady confirmed. A knife-wielding attacker was killed after stabbing a policeman. Here are some eyewitness accounts.
Quentin Letts, a parliamentary sketchwriter for the Daily Mail said: “I was in my office overlooking New Palace Yard. This is the area where the shooting happened and I saw the shooting happen and I saw some of the stabbing or what seems to have been stabbing going on and then I saw I’m afraid what looks like fruitless attempts to save a man who’d fallen, who I think was one of the policemen. He was wearing black clothes, he didn’t have much hair, he was quite think set. And he set about one of the policeman with what looked like a stick. The policeman fell over on the ground and it was pretty horrible to watch. Then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs and he got about 20 yards or so when two plainclothes guys with guns shot him. And I have to say that they were very quick to run out of wherever they ran out of and ran towards him and they did the shooting pose with their legs straight and one leg in front of the other. And they shouted something at him and he appeared to ignore it and kept running towards them and then two or three shots and he fell instantly.” He ran in through the open gates. These are the gates where people drive in and out of the Parliamentary Estate and they are manned by uniformed policeman. The gates were open and this man ran through.
John Campbell, who witnessed events from a passing bus told the Telegraph: I was upstairs on the number 88 bus which was stuck in a traffic jam on parliament square when I saw a lot of people running up from Westminster Bridge. I then saw a man running with a very large kitchen knife. He was running really fast and went straight past the guards at the gate. I then saw him stab a police officer two or three times. His colleague then intervened and the officer managed to stagger away. I then heard two neat shots and the man went down.
This eyewitness gave a number of journalists this account:
Eyewitness to Westminster attack: pic.twitter.com/8zD48YcMPT
— Alex MacDonald (@AlexJayMac) March 22, 2017
Richard Tyse told Sky News: “I came out of Westminster tube station which was being locked down behind me (by police). I was ushered onto Westminster Bridge and looked onto the west pavement of the bridge and literally north to south I must have counted 8-10 prostrate figures on the ground.
I understand a car had driven along the pavement knocking people over and that’s why many people were lying on the ground. The whole length of the bridge there were people on the ground who had clearly been injured
Alan Parry from Sky Sports News said: “I was just outside Westminster tube station when I heard an almighty crash and a vehicle that looked like a 4×4 had crashed into the railings (at parliament). There was smoke coming from underneath the bonnet. I saw a pedestrian or a cyclist who had clearly been hit. The driver of the car sprinted away from the scene. That was followed by four what sounded very much like gunshots. Then all of a sudden all hell was let loose and police descended everywhere. The whole area was locked down. It was a frightening couple of minutes.”
Kevin Schofield, editor of Politics Home was in parliament at the time of the attack. Writing on Twitter:
Then there were gunshots and lots of armed police running around everywhere. I can see someone getting treatment in New Palace Yard.
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) March 22, 2017