Streatham terror stabbing: Witness recalls being warned about ‘bomb in bag’

A man has described being told to leave the scene of a terror attack in south London after police warned the attacker had “a bomb in his bag”.

Witness Karker Tahir was speaking after attacker Sudesh Amman stabbed two people on Streatham High Road on Sunday afternoon.

Mr Tahir, who works in a nearby shop, said he saw the suspect being chased and then shot by police about 20 metres away on the busy street.

He told Sky News: “It was around 2pm this afternoon. At the time I was working with my colleague and I saw this guy literally running on the pavement and behind him there were two or three police officers undercover with a gun.

“They kept telling him ‘stop, stop’. But he didn’t stop and then I saw that they shot him three times.

“It was horrible seeing it.

“The man was on the floor and it looked like he had something which police said may be a device.

“Police came to us and said, ‘You have to leave the shop because he has a bomb in his bag.’

“Police, after shooting him, went to check on him while he was alive and then they found something – I believe there was a bomb or something and they stepped back and told everybody to step back.

“We had to leave immediately because maybe the bomb goes off and could hurt everybody. I’m still shocked.”

The device strapped to Amman’s body turned out to be fake.

Another witness, a 19-year-old student from Streatham who did not give his name, said he had seen Amman shot in front of a shop.

He 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.

“The man was then shot. I think I heard three gun shots but I can’t quite remember.

“After that I ran into the library to get to safety. From the library I saw a load of ambulances and armed police officers arrive on the scene.”

The student added that people began running into nearby stores, adding: “We were all informed to stay in buildings by armed police, until we were evacuated.”

Mariam Qureshra, 16, told Sky News that she was in a library when she heard screaming outside, before people “came running in and hiding behind doors and windows”.

She added: “Police came in and told us to stay away from windows and doors and eventually escorted us out of the back.

“Outside there were lots of people running.

“You never think it’s going to happen on your doorstep. You see it happen but you don’t think it will happen to you.”

Dave Chawner was heading to the cinema when he saw a man running down the street, bumping into someone before they fell to the ground and then got up again.

He then heard shouting and what he thought was a car backfiring, followed by “two minor explosions”.

He said he didn’t assume these were gunshots until he saw two police officers pointing a gun at an assailant.

Mr Chawner said he saw a man on the other side of the road who was down on the ground and “not lucid”.

Mr Chawner had a blanket with him for his cinema visit, and placed this over the victim’s wound to compress it, saying: “In that moment I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary until I saw the guns and then I thought this is something different.”

He added that the police were “incredibly good” at dealing with the situation.

The witness said he was on the phone to paramedics for over half an hour before they arrived but London Ambulance Service said its crews were on the scene within four minutes but could not reach victims until police confirmed the scene was safe.

Mr Chawner said: “My only concern was the poor person I had seen on the street that was bleeding out in a pool of blood.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Streatham terror stabbing: Witness recalls being warned about ‘bomb in bag’