Streatham shooting – ‘Islamic terrorist’ shot dead by cops on London street after he stabs two in knife rampage
A MAN has been shot dead by armed police after several people were stabbed in a terror attack on a London high street today.
Frantic witnesses heard gunshots and saw the man lying on the pavement on Streatham High Street.
A terrified woman was heard screaming in pain after she was stabbed in the back. Two people have now been confirmed to be injured.
Security sources have told Sky reporters it is being treated as an “Islamist” attack.
A Metropolitan Police statement said: “A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham. At this stage it is believed a number of people have been stabbed.
“The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related.”
Police scrambled to the busy south London street just after 2pm this afternoon, with a helicopter arriving shortly afterwards.
Read our Streatham terror attack live blog for the latest news and updates
Cops shouted for people to “get back” as they cleared the area of shoppers and bystanders.
One horrified witness who watched the sickening scenes unfold told the Sun Online: “I was outside having a cigarette near Argos and Iceland when I saw a woman in hysterics running up the street screaming he stabbed me in the back’.
“As that was happening I looked up and saw another commotion and a man run away with a huge knife.
“There was a guy on the floor covered in blood with a huge gash down his side.
“He was in a really bad way and people were circled round him shouting ‘stay with us’. His clothes were soaked in blood.
“Then I heard the gunshots. There was one first. Then a pause for a while and two or three more.
The guy was just running around with a huge knife randomly stabbing people so police had to stop him.
“The police seemed to arrive pretty quickly but I was standing outside for at least 25 minutes before the first ambulance arrived. It was too slow.
“They went straight to the guy on the floor to help him then what looked like specialist police doctors or something came and helped too.”
Images circulating online show an armed police officer standing next to a black BMW stopped in the middle of the street.
He could be seen pointing a gun at a man lying on the floor outside a Boots – with a knife discarded nearby.
And in another picture of the scene a number of injured people being treated on the pavement can be seen behind a cop moving bystanders away.
Gulled Bulhan, a 19-year-old student from Streatham, said: “I was crossing the road when I saw a man with a machete and silver canisters on his chest being chased by what I assume was an undercover police officer – as they were in civilian clothing.”
There was a guy on the floor covered in blood with a huge gash down his side.
Witness
A video taken just after the man was shot showed armed cops suddenly dashing away from the body, after noticing he appeared to have a suicide vest strapped on.
Emma Taylor, 31, from Streatham Hill, told the Sun Online: “I was walking up the high street after going for brunch with some friends and we saw a woman screaming outside a small hardware shop next to Iceland.
“As we approached her she was in serious distress and she shouted ‘he’s just grabbed a knife from my shop and stabbed a lady'”.
“She stopped us from going any further and that’s when we saw the woman, just five metres in front us, being attended to by paramedics.
“She kept trying to get up, she was in pure shock. Before we saw all this, I remember unmarked police cars whizzing past us.
“There was armed police everywhere – it was like something out of a film.
“The woman, who owns the hardware shop, kept repeating ‘he stabbed her in the back’.”
“There was helicopters and all sorts and as we walked off the woman seemed to be ok.
“Had it been 20 odd seconds earlier we would have been right on top of it all.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We have a number of resources attending an incident in Streatham High Road.”
One person tweeted: “Be careful out today in London, just seen about two dozen armed police, a man shot and two stab victims receiving urgent medical care.”
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A witness, Dave Chawner, posted: “I had to stay with someone who’d just been #stabbed in #Streatham for 30 minutes before a single ambulance arrived. I hope he made it.”
And another said: “What the hell is going on in Streatham?!? Helicopters circling above and sirens outside. Twitter saying a man has been shot dead.
“It’s a Sunday afternoon and families are everywhere. Very scary.”
More to follow…
For the latest news on this story keep checking back at Sun Online.
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