There are truly disturbing scenes unfolding in Westminster.
Reports emerged that there had been shots fired outside the Houses of Parliament.
A police officer is said to have been stabbed, and his alleged assailant has been shot, according to the BBC.
We were called at approx 2:40pm to reports of an incident at #Westminster Bridge. Being treated as a firearms incident – police on scene
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 22, 2017
At least a dozen people are reportedly injured https://t.co/iRqRQ3n4bj
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) March 22, 2017
Soon after, reports emerged of a separate incident on Westminster Bridge.
RadosÅ‚aw Sikorski, a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard Univerity, claims that a car “has mowed down at least 5 people.”
Other, as yet unconfirmed sources, on Twitter seem to corroborate this report.
There have been two separate incidents that police are looking into. https://t.co/e0SYTOzEfe
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) March 22, 2017
Sky Sports football commentator Alan Parry was passing by as the incident unfolded, and gave this detailed account of it to his colleagues at Sky News.
Parry said his walking along the pavement across from the Houses of Parliament when he heard an “almighty crash” just outside Westminster Underground station.
He said that the driver of the 4×4, which is alleged to have “mowed down” pedestrians, jumped from the vehicle when it crashed into a cyclist or a pedestrian, and began sprinting away from the scene before police arrived.
“That was followed by four what sounded very muck like gunshots to me,” Parry continued.
“All of a sudden all hell was let loose, police descended everywhere and the whole area was locked down.”
There was an "almighty crash" as a vehicle hit the railings outside Parliament, a witness tells Sky News pic.twitter.com/ubgSsntZPm
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 22, 2017