Streatham terror attack: Three injured and man shot dead in south London
Written by News on 02/02/2020
Three people have been injured and a man has been shot dead by police in a “terrorist-related” incident in Streatham, south London.
Witnesses describe a man with a “machete” and “silver canisters” on his chest being chased by armed officers before being shot.
Pictures show him face down and apparently injured outside a Boots shop as a police officer aims a gun.
Sky’s home affairs correspondent Mark White said the man was wearing something resembling a suicide vest but it’s unclear if it was real.
Three people were treated at the scene and taken to hospital – one is in a life-threatening condition.
The attacker was under active surveillance and the attack was Islamist-inspired, said Sky News security correspondent Alistair Bunkall.
The attack took place on Streatham’s busy High Road – around seven miles from central London – at about 2pm.
Video shows two officers with guns drawn approaching the body outside Boots, before another plain-clothes officer on a high-powered motorbike pulls up.
They back off as the man on the ground lifts his head slightly and more officers arrive.
Met Police tweeted: “A man has been shot by armed officers in #Streatham… The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related.”
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A witness described seeing a man with a machete and silver canisters being chased by armed police.
The 19-year-old student – who wanted to remain anonymous – 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.”
Another witness, Karker Tahir, told Sky News: “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’.
“After shooting him they 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.”
A shop owner, who also wanted to stay anonymous, said the man had taken a knife from a shop before stabbing a man and a woman. However, police have not confirmed these details.
On social media, Dave Chawner said he had helped one of the victims.
He tweeted: “I had to stay with someone who’d just been #stabbed in #Streatham for 30 minutes before a single ambulance arrived.
“I’m just over 1 mile from a hospital – I’m not having a go at anyone, but that’s not right, I just hope he made it.”
Mr Chawner told Sky News he first thought a shoplifting was taking place with a man running down the street.
He said he then saw a victim on the ground on the other side of the street who was “not lucid” and Mr Chawner had a blanket with him which was placed over the wound to compress it
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “Thank you to all emergency services responding to the incident in Streatham, which the police have now declared as terrorism-related. My thoughts are with the injured and all those affected.”
Nick Aldworth, former counter-terror national coordinator, told Sky News that police would be working urgently to establish whether it was a lone attacker or if others are involved.
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