what appears to have happened as a man described as middle aged, drove over the westminster bridge and while doing so, mowed down people on that bridge leaving a trail of injured behind him. then he crashes into a gate outside of this government building and proceeds to attack a police officer with a knife that's been described as 7-8 inches long. at that point, the man, according to reports, is shot by police. quite frankly, that's what we know at this point. the prime minister was inside the parliament building, she hasn't said to be safe at this time. as you just heard it live, it looks like they are going to try to resume some semblance of business inside the building, although the building is in lockdown as well as other journalists that are working as part of this government apparatus in london. we do not know at this point if it is a terrorist attack, although we do feel compelled to tell you that this is the anniversary of the terror attack and belgium. we don't want to connect the two, we don't have that information. the timing may or may not be significant and that's why i'm

just a short distance away, the bridge you're seeing there, the westminster bridge, there has been an incident there that may have involved a truck plowing into individuals. we have seen a number of people treated on both sides of that bridge, and air ambulance on the scene. we've seen ambulances. we've seen people taken away on stretchers. our kelly cobiella is monitoring all this from our london newsroom. recap what we know right now, kelly. >> all this started about 50 minutes ago, lester. it was 2:40 in the afternoon british time. would have been a busy afternoon right in the heart of london. the first reports is it came in around 2:40. an incident on westminster bridge, this is the bridge we keep seeing in pictures that leads straight to the steps of parliament. the initial reports were of a firearms incident on that bridge, according to met police. what we subsequently began to hear from witnesses as well as from the video that we were seeing was of a 4x4, someone driving a very large vehicle into crowds on that bridge. it will sound familiar because that's exactly what happened

the first reports that came in around 2:40 were of an incident on westminster bridge. this is the bridge we keep seeing in these pictures, that leads straight to far limit, crosses straight to the steps of parliament. the initial reports were of a firearms incident on that bridge according to met police. what we've subsequently began to hear into crowds on that bridge, it will sound familiar because that's exactly what happened in berlin and in germany and in france in the south of france and terrorist attacksth statement. i should be very clear that this is terror related at this point. this is very much an active investigation, they aren't labeling it as anything other than a firearms incident. we understand from eyewitness reports, nothing confirmed from police, that half a dozen people, about six people were injured on westminster bridge. it could be more than that. these are preliminary numbers and then secondarily, another potential scene, a man according to witnesses brandishing a knife at the houses of parliament, threatening an officer with a knife. an officer

westminster bridge, westminster square all remain completely closed off at this point. in terms of the wider effect, we know the iv is closed and also theresa may's meeting had been canceled. we have not heard from theresa may herself. it is possible she is waiting for more information from the metropolitan police before she comes out and make a statement? rob: she will want to say , itthing soon but equally is characteristic of her she will want all of the information she can have before she speaks. would hearect we something from her in the next hour. probably in them down at street but that is -- in downing street, but that is pure speculation on my side. she is a former home secretary. her main experience of government is dealing with the police and a dealing with incidents like this even if we had had -- we have not had an incident like this. she will have a good sense of how these things play out and relationship good with some of the people on at the ground. we want to reiterate. we heard from police commander b.j. harrington a few moments ago, it is important to

data may be why they probably found themselves on the westminster bridge. this supposed reconstruction, the car would have turned left on westminster palace, this where the mp's preside. the attacker, we do not know if it was one or two, the attack we know of that was taken down, got out of the car and the person attacked a police officer and then was taken down by in officer in a plane clothing. -- in plain clothing. this in the situation. we see police and ambulances coming in and out. the situation seems under control. we had headlines 20 minutes ago from the met police and the head of scotland yard saying they do not want to say yet whether the attack has been fully stopped. david: i want to turn to rob hutton. i want a flat something the bbc is reporting saying 2 attackers were in the vehicle on the bridge. you were there when all of this unfolde as the parliament complex was on ocown, whais the lest you have heard? we are piecing together from a variety of different sources. you right now, parliament has been in total lockdown. everybody has to stay wh

including french schoolchildren, police officers and a woman who fell into the river thames from westminster bridgeing pedestrians. that is the latest from westminster at this police cordoned, where there is still a lot of police activity, ambulances, police cars, the police helicopter moving around all the time. i will hand you back to the studio. thank you, ben. more from ben brown and the team and westminster coming up. police say they are treating today's attack as a terrorist incident. since 2014 the threat level for international terrorism in the uk has been rated as severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. questions are being asked tonight about somebody carrying a weapon managed to penetrate pa rliament‘s somebody carrying a weapon managed to penetrate parliament's and hands security system. gordon corera has this assessment of today's events. armed officers around the palace of westminster this afternoon. in the immediate aftermath of a long feared attack. it is supposed to be one of the most secure sites in the country, precisely because it has long been top of the target list for terr

scene i'm close to the houses of parliament, i'm an lambeth bridge, immediately to the west of westminster bridge where the incident began with that car ramming as far as we know right now. this bridge, lambeth bridge was easy to walk across. there's police presence on the end of the bridge, but walking across it, i was allowed to just kind of saunter across, and as i mentioned earlier, a lot of the people that i'm seeing on the streets here, they're not panicked. public transportation except for in the areas immediately around the attack seem to be functioning rather normal. everybody seems to be filing out of their offices, and heading home, and it's not entirely clear whether they were let out early for the day or walking around as normal but it's a striking juxtaposition between the huge police presence that descended on the areas just on the entryways to the bridges, and to the streets surrounding the houses of parliament, and the faces and the expressions of people who are walking by who just seemed as though this is a regular day, even as there are emergency vehicles with their sirens wail

that is the westminster bridge. the side of the bridge that it looks as if the incident has occurred is facing the houses of parliament. you would be able to see the houses of parliament from there. there is actually an area where members of parliament can sit outside by the river. it is visible from that part of the bridge. so further down that -- from that bridge with the parliament on the left, then you get to parliament square which you can see in the other picture. that's where, if people have been to london, that's where the statue of winston churchill is. that's where it seems as if there's a helicopter that would have found a place to live there. right across from there is white hall. downing street is, i guess, around halfway down there, that road. and then i guess around half a mile away is buckingham palace where the royal officia say the queen is currently. it's a compact area. there are a lot of very important people in that area. for that reason you've been mentioning that british police do not carry ar

westminster bridge, which isjust 100 metres from the new police headquarters over there is a crime scenece of westminster. the traffic on westminster bridge is frozen in time. itjust hasn't moved since the moment that the carnage began and police officers are poring over the bridge looking for evidence, as they are inside the palace of westminster it's self. the key thing is that evidence needs to be gathered, even though police still believe the attacker acted alone. they need to know what happened, they need to know what happened, they need to know what happened, they need to know what he did, because from their on they can work out if he was acting alone, notjust alone in the vehicle, but actually acting alone. we are expecting an updated very soon from mark rowley, the acting deputy commissioner here at new scotla nd deputy commissioner here at new scotland yard, the national coordinator for anti—terrorism, and he will say the focus of the inquiry is international terrorism, i understand, and that is of course islamist inspired, violetjihadist inspired —— violent. islamist inspired,

that is being done on westminster bridge, westminster bridge is now running, all of this was now shutoff identifying the associates of khalid masood, thatis the associates of khalid masood, that is something that will take days and weeks and sometimes even months. questions there. speaking of the palace of westminster about weather the police alter the security while trying to strike a balance between that and allowing it to bea balance between that and allowing it to be a open place that people can visit. it is inevitable that they are going to have to review security for the palace of westminster. there was always an obvious possible source of weakness which was the vehicle gates through which mps dry each day. it is the exit gate for visitors to parliament. that is the way they come out. it has always beena way they come out. it has always been a potential weak point. it has always been armed officers there. this attack shows that it is possible to breach that external perimeter. admittedly, not very far, but nobody wants to see a repeat of what happened, or anything worse. they will

the one thing that struck me walking down westminster bridge is the amount of space to the left of theath on the pavement, there is a big open space with no bail ards and lamp posts and when you walk down the bridge, you can see that it is very easy for a card to pull off the carriageway and come down b—side of the bridge as that man did yesterday —— easy for a car to pull off the carriageway and come down the side. u nless carriageway and come down the side. unless you knew the bridge and the way it works and the way the traffic flow works, it is hard to believe you would know that you could come off the carriageway and drive in that way, but that is the reason why so many people were injured because ina so many people were injured because in a short space there would have been a lot of people facing towards big ben taking their pictures and they would not have seen this car coming from behind. the scene here is that people have seen that the cordon has been removed, but the sad news is that another man has died, a 75—year—old man. we will bring you the details of the latest victim wh

from the bbcage showing people lying injured on westminster bridge. police, fire service presence is on westminster police as well. that is something we should be aware of, two ambulances and now within the u.k. parliament precinct. let's bring in our reporter rob hutton. what can you tell us? : from our window overlooking parliament square, a few minutes ago one of my colleagues was astonished to see someone running in and then being shot. there now appear to be two people on the ground who are being treated next to ambulances . a helicopter air ambulance has landed in parliament square. parliament square is shut off to all traffic. it is possible there is someone else being treated on a bridge but i cannot see, and we are not allowed to leave our offices at the moment. we are in a total security lockdown. we see a large number of armed police come running into the building. whether that is just a security precaution i am unable to tell you. mark: we are just hearing from the house of commons leader mr. letting 10 that a policeman was apparently stabb

westminster bridge. e director of national security studies, there. we have had a reaction to what happened here today at westminster from the president of the european parliament in the last couple of minutes. let's get that now. i want to express to the uk and to the british parliament, my solidarity, our solidarity. we need to stop the terrorism, we need to work altogether against daesh. let me tell you that the lights on the eiffel tower in paris, we are hearing, will be switched off at midnight according to the mayor of paris. a gesture of solidarity from the people of paris with the people of london. the lights on the eiffel tower, switch off at midnight. let's hear from tower, switch off at midnight. let's hearfrom an tower, switch off at midnight. let's hear from an eyewitness to what happened today at westminster. i was opposite big ben andi westminster. i was opposite big ben and ijust westminster. i was opposite big ben and i just heard westminster. i was opposite big ben and ijust heard a comm

members of the public were killed and at least a0 injured when a car ploughed into pedestrians on westminster bridge. the man then stabbed and killed 48—year—old police officer, keith palmer, inside the palace of westminster grounds, before being shot dead by police. tonight, the police investigation continues and the prime minister has chaired a meeting of the cabinet‘s emergency committee. we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror, and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart. i am dan brown and will be reporting live from the police cordon at the end of a day of terror, chaos, and confusion. good evening and welcome to bbc news. westminster is in state of emergency after a terror attack, in which five people have died and at least a0 others have been injured. among the five people killed are three members of the public, the attacker and a police officer named as as—year—old, pc keith palmer. a man drove a car into pedestrians on the westminster bridge. he then stabbed the officer outside parliament before being shot dead. the prime minister described it as a

you can seejust behind me, at the end of westminster bridge. ene. the only people around here are police officers. this part of westminster remains and tightly sealed. clearly the most serious terror attacks since thejuly the most serious terror attacks since the july seven attack the most serious terror attacks since thejuly seven attack in 2005, a very iconic place to do it not just to kill but cause fear even though the threat to individuals, relatively speaking, is tiny? absolutely. you are right that it could not have been more central. one of the most famous landmarks in the world attacked today and pictures beamed around the world. what is quite telling now, behind me scotla nd what is quite telling now, behind me scotland yard, the lights are on. they are working through the night to try to investigate what they can find about the man who committed these crimes. what we have learned from last note is the attacker was carrying two large knives when he drove along westminster bridge and he attacked a police officer with one of those knives

early afternoon with the traffic flowing over westminster bridge.right, a grey hyundai starts crossing the bridge and then swerves onto the pavement. a woman jumps into the thames. others are knocked to the ground and under traffic as the vehicle races towards parliament square. left behind on the bridge, a group of horrified visitors. on the ground, dozens of injured people, some lying on the pavement, many bleeding, one trapped under a bus. some of the injuries were described as catastrophic. a big sort of crunch, sounded like a car crash, but almost that crunch of a wheel on a kerb. i saw the vehicle mount the kerb and it was coming out so quickly, and i saw some people being hit in front of me. ijumped to the left into the road. i think one of the guys had been hit, but fortunately was kept past me. and then looked around me in shock because i could see bodies, and it was all, yeah, real shock. some people trying to escape the vehicle ended up in the road, cared for by bewildered passers—by. we heard what sounded like metal on metal, and we assu

and of course the sad part is westminster bridge.eading, ithink, overall. we saw in nice in we sarah dingle early on. it is so difficult. —— we saw it in berlin. many people have shared the view that it is impossible that despite how much you're prepared to the mass evacuation of people in a major city like london or, you know, a medical response to a situation like this that you cannot prevent it. you share that view? yes. it is virtually impossible. especially when you have a lone back to acting under the influence of whatever extremist view he has found. we saw some in similar... it is notjust is mullis we're looking at here, don't forget that we had a politician killed by somebody influenced by far right extremism. you have to look at the situation of how difficult this is tried to detect. and what i find it interesting is that there may be some preparation, planning and looking about this individual. and i think that is the point that was made this morning, if anybody sees anything at all, anything that they are not happy with a

the attacker drove a car across westminster bridge, mounting the pavement, hitting around forty peoplee of the pedestrians died and many others were taken to hospital. the car continued along the bridge towards big ben and then crashed into the railings beside the grounds. the attacker then made his way to the gate of the parliamentary complex armed with two knives and stabbed a police officer who later died, who was unarmed, despite the best efforts of a team of emergency workers. the attacker was then shot dead by police. scotland yard's top anti—terrorism officer, acting deputy commissioner mark rowley, gave this update late on wednesday evening. one of those who died today was a police officer, pc keith palmer, a member of our parliamentary and diplomatic protection command. keith, aged a8, had 15 years service, and was a husband and father. he was someone who left for work today expecting to return home at the end of his shift and he had every right to expect that would happen. i can also now confirm that there are three members of the public who have lost their lives in the attac

we're seeing a number of ambulances left on westminster bridge. that follows the apparent attack by a vehicle over the bridge toward the house of parliament here. i've seen at least five people on stretchers being carted away. i don't know if you can see over this shoulder here. i've seen two of them being taken in there by emergency workers. and over the course of the last hour or so since we've been here -- it's two hours since the incident, we've seen seven ambulances leaving the bridge, four of them with sirens on, which seem to indicate severe injuries, if not worse. at the moment, it's getting a little quieter. number of police standing down. as you can see, there's still a heavy police presence here on the bridge and in the distance here is now blocked off by one of the ambulances. but there's kind of emergency equipment. some of the air ambulance crews potentially there, working on the side of the bridge off that report of a man in the river that might be linked to that. again, i don't want to speculate too much. this traffic on the bridge

westminster bridge, a tourist spot. this afternoon, violence stilled it.ght wasjust a collision. and then i looked out the window of the taxi and i saw someone down, obviously in great distress. then i saw a second person down and i started filming and i saw three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely. so what i saw was an incident involving at least five people seriously injured. i was just walking across the bridge when suddenly a bus stopped, people were screaming and came off the bus and they seemed very upset. then i saw what appeared to be a trainer on the side of the road. on the other side of the road there was a body and when i looked further up, there was another body. on the other side of the bridge, there appeared to be a body in the water as well. a car and driver intent on taking the lives of those who came to see. what is normally a safe circle, the most tightly guarded part of the city, danger and confusion. as you know, we have declared this is a terrorist incident. the counter terrorism command are carrying out a full—scale inv

leaves, and pedestrians now walking across westminster bridge. bridge. the next phase of evidence gathering has happened. but of course the big, big, big part of the investigation is still to be done. police have arrested eight people overnight, people known to the man is to see if they knew anything about it, and they'll be working outwards from that, from his devices, his computers and his mobile phones and trying to work out who he knew and what communication he may have had about is planned attack. daniel sandford, thank you. the pope has expressed sympathy for the victims of yesterday's attack. in a letter to the archbishop of westminster, he offered his solidarity for all those affected. our religious affairs correspondent martin bashir is at westminster cathedral. yes, i spent the morning here at westminster cathedral, where cardinal vincent nichols has been praying for the victims, the emergency services and the wider communities response to this attack. he emphasised that regardless of who claims responsibility, our response cannot be one

westminster bridge is now reopened. westminster bridge is now reopened.tes from foreign secretary boris johnson, who is in new york. this is what he had to say about the attack at westminster. yesterday, the people of london were attacked in a cowardly and despicable way. our thoughts today are with the victims and their families. 0n thoughts today are with the victims and theirfamilies. on behalf of thoughts today are with the victims and their families. on behalf of the united kingdom, iam and their families. on behalf of the united kingdom, i am gratefulfor all the condolences that have been expressed here at the un and for the minute silence that was held in the security council. you may know that today there are victims in london from 11 nations, which goes to show that an attack on london is an attack on the world. i can tell you from my talks here in the united states with the us government and with partners from around the world, that the world is united to defeat the people who launched this attack. and to defeat their bankrupt and odious ideolog

parliament and also westminster bridge. as you heard from the former superintendent, britain is very, very good at dealing with these issues. the person was immediately tackle and disabled. they are now treating those people on westminster bridge, as you can probably see from the overhead video, who were injured when a car apparently rammed into them. the details are very, very sketchy, except for officially the police are telling us that they are treating this incident as a terrorist attack until they know otherwise. this time last year at the airport and elsewhere. it is also right after on saturday we saw an incident in the paris airport orly where an individual tried to attack a police guard who was there, an armed police. this individual was trying to go for the gun, and this individual was gunned down by that policeman's colleagues. it is also right after we've had both american security and intelligence and also british security and intelligence putting out the warnings about ipads and tablets from various countries

the first reports that came in around 2:40 were of an incident on westminster bridge. traight to parliament, crosses straight to the steps of parliament. the initial reports were of a firearms incident on that bridge, according to met police. what we subsequently began to hear from eyewitnesss, as well as from the video we were see seeing, was of a 4x4, someone driving a very large vehicle into crowds on that bridge. it will sound familiar because that's exactly what happened in berlin and in germany and in france in the south of france in terrorist attacks there. there's been no official statement, i should be very clear, that this is terror related at this point. this is very much an active investigation. met police aren't labelling it as anything right now other than a firearms incident. in terms of injuries, we understand from eyewitness reports nothing confirmed from police that half a dozen people, about six people were injured on westminster bridge. it could be more than that. again, these are preliminary numbers. then secondarily, another potential scene. a man,

at then drove across the bridge, it was repeatedly an suv that traveled across her westminster bridge, apparently ran down several people, two people are no reported dead in this reported terror incident. it made on the left side of the bridge where learning, but there was a lot of pedestrians involved there on the bridge. he then crashed into a gated park across from big ben then fled from the car with a knife. it there are a lot of eyewitnesses of this incident and this is what we are hearing. scotland yard is making a statement, let's listen. >> a terrorist of education is already underway. at this stage, i will confirm what we know has happened to me but it will not speculate. we received a number of different reports was included a person in a car ran over pedestrian's and a man with a knife. additional officers were sent to the scene and that includes fire officers. we are looking closely with the influences. i would like to repeat our request for the public to avoid the following areas. parliament square, westminster bridge, victoria street up to the junction of broadway and vi

westminster bridge behind me leading over to the palace of westminster, the houses of parliament, thatage of big ben, seemingly the scene of tragedy this afternoon in london. we've seen a number of people pulled off the bridge on stretchers. you can see a huge number of ambulances, a significant police presence, helicopters above us, and a large number of armed policemen, both on this bridge and then closer to the palace of westminster where there was this incident as well. seems to be two separate events that have taken place, one involving a vehicle going across the bridge, trying to mow people down. essentially, that's why we've had a huge number of casualties on the bridge. we've also seen this incident where an intruder got inside the security perimeter of westminster and was dealt with by police. the metropolitan police here in london are saying this is being dealt with as a terrorist incident. >> willem, your reporting then suggests these are two separate things that happened at the same time? does that suggest a coordination between two separate individuals? >> reporter: not cl

that car going down westminster bridge, running into people, crowds of people on this bridge in the center of london that leads to the houses of parliament. 20 injured, there are some reports some of those injuries are catastrophic. four people killed including, it appears, the police officer who was stabbed at the houses of parliament. lester, this is ongoing and will be for some hours, perhaps days here in central london. >> kelly, thank you. let me quickly bring in jeremy bash, nbc news security expert. jeremy, as you heard, they believe it is one attacker. we apparently lost jeremy bash. let's leave it there. the headline right now from the latest news conference likely one attacker who drove across the bridge, mowed down a number of people before the deadly confrontation with the police officer at parliament, four dead, 20 injured. we will have full coverage on nbc nightly news. of course we'll come on the air any time events warrant. until then i'm lester holt in new york. >> you have been listening to a special nbc news report there, lester holt updating us as the metropolitan polic

it took him about 20 seconds to drive the 252 metres across westminster bridge. n ordinary cardriving round the roundabout in waterloo. but he was about to enter the bridge, westminster bridge, drive onto it and start killing people. this is where he mounted the curb. witnesses said they thought it was an accident as masood ran into his victims. one man fell over the edge of the bridge. it is believed it was kurt cochran, on his 25th wedding anniversary. his wife was still in hospital. at this point, he put his foot to the floor, accelerating fast and hard. he hit someone else just about here. imagine the panic along here. people walking along this pavement desperate to get out of the way. some of them pushing themselves right up to the side barriers to stop themselves from being hit. and it's at this point where that cctv footage shows the woman falling over into the water. did shejump? one eyewitness told us that she was knocked into the thames by the car. she was andreea christi, a romanian tourist who was rescued from the water. by this point it has become pre

westminster bridge is closed of course, along with parliament square. ridge towards waterloo bridge. and no 0verground service between romford to upminster. time for the weather now with elizabeth rizzini. good morning. there is some early rain around this morning but it is set to push its way westwards through the morning and it should dry out and brighten up as we head through the afternoon. still a chilly easterly wind. you will feel that in part of the thames estuary. by say nine or ten o'clock, the rain has moved westwards. still cloud here and there, which will then break and we will get some sunny spells coming through. always a bit cooler the further east you are. up to 12 or 13 degrees. a bright and breezy day. overnight, it will stay dry. more cloud towards southern areas and a few outbreaks of rain. otherwise dry. overnight lows of six or seven celsius. tomorrow, that chilly easterly wind. eastern areas, the temperatures will be lower. dry and lots in the way of sunshine. high pressure is set to stay with us over the course of the weekend so i

he hired it in across westminster bridge. he hired itina across westminster bridge. he gave his profession as a teacher and we believe his partner has been arrested, but not in the west midlands. she has been arrested in another part of the country. what about the government strategy to tackle what will they be thinking about now in light of this?” tackle what will they be thinking about now in light of this? i don't think it really changes that strategy. their busy review due. we thought it might have been last week of the strategy, new ideas about how they could tackle violent extremism and its prevalence in the uk. this attack is exactly the sort of attack people were expecting. people who has been inspired by the ideology of people like islamic state and al-qaeda, somebody wanting to target the seat of power, possibly to target those officers. that was nothing surprising about the attack, just disappointment for police that he did not spot this person coming in time. the other big focus is in the west midlands where they were a number of arrests overnight and a n

been named as one of the two people who were killed, when the attacker targeted pedestrians on westminster bridges stabbed by the suspect at the entrance of the palace of westminster. 29 people remain in hospital, including seven in a critical condition. the victims are from twelve different countries. wyre davies has this report. the house of commons was in sombre, reflective mood this morning. order. colleagues in respectful memory of those who lost their lives in yesterday's attack, and of all of the casualties of that attack, we shall now observe a minute's silence. mr speaker, yesterday an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy. but today we meet as normal... as generations have done before us, and as future generations will continue to do. to deliver a simple message: we are not afraid and our resolve will never waiver in the face of terrorism. as the queen said her thoughts and sympathy were with all of those affected by yesterday's awful violence, at new scotland yard, the metropolitan police paid their tributes to a fallen colleague, after an attack on the capital that everyone

just half a mile from westminster bridge, one man contemplating what might have been.t all. among the crowd, men in blue t—shirts. written on them the words "i am a muslim, ask me anything." it was extremely important for us to come down, especially as muslims, to come here and stand with fellow londoners, fellow countrymen, shoulder to shoulder, irrespective of religion, faith, creed, colour, and give out a message that these attacks cannot divide us. many of the police officers i spoke to say they'd been amazed by the number of people who'd wanted to thank them. this doesn't happen to you every day, does it, that members of the public come up to you, hug you, say thank you. no. no, not at all. when the first person did it i was shocked actually, i had to doubletake, but it makes you feel really warm to be honest. what was it like for you being here? it was very touching. i've never had so many people come up to me and thank you for... what you do. ..what we've done, but this isjust ourjob. candles for those who died and for the dozens more who's been injured. but the

sirens] reporter: eyewitnesses described a car driven by an attacker hitting the pedestrians on westminster bridgeefore it crashed at the foot of big ben. >> they continue to drive all the way down to the bottom of the bridge, there is a bus stop on the left-hand side, and that he continue between the bus and the -- just like we are stated here now, as if it would run into us. >> we saw three people in the road and somebody called out for first aid and some went running to help to see what they could do. reporter: shortly after, a police officer was stabbed. the assailant was shot by police. scotland yard said it was pursuing a terrorism investigation. >> since 2:40 p.m. this afternoon, we have responded to an incident in parliament square and the senior coordinator has declared it a terrorist incident. although we are open-minded, a full investigation is now underway. reporter: police say they have not established a motive for the attacks, but they will pursue all leads in that direction. sarah: we will bring in kitty logan who is near the attack seen on the banks of the thames. hi, so it is the

terrorist struck at the heart of westminster, but, many of those who lost their lives were on westminster bridgele going about their daily business. they were innocent victims. that is what makes this particularly awful. we are guarded at westminster by fantastic policemen and security personnel and one of them lay down his life yesterday and ran towards the danger as others did. this seems on westminster bridge of innocent people and many will watch the programme, who will have walked over the bridge and visited london, live in london, come from overseas, and the thought that they can suddenly be struck down in such a terrible way i think will weigh heavily on all of us. i would like to say london is still open, we would like people to come and visit. the palace of westminster is a world heritage site and it is important it remains open. i want to ask about your colleague who tried to help save the life of the police officer. tobias ellwood. that is a picture used by many newspapers today. he is an extraordinary man. his family has faced personal tragedy. extraordinary man. his family has faced

it took him about 20 seconds to drive the 252 metres across westminster bridge. ust an ordinary cardriving round a roundabout in waterloo, but he was about to enter the bridge, westminster, bridge, drive on to it and start killing people. this is where he mounted the kerb. witnesses said they thought it was an accident, as masood ran into his first victims. one man fell over the wall of the bridge here and hit the concrete towpath below. it's believed this is where kurt cochran, the us tourist on holiday with his wife, died. at this point he puts his foot to the floor, accelerating fast and hard. he hits someone else, just about here. imagine the panic along here. people walking along this pavement, desperate to get out of the way. some of them pushing themselves right up to the side barriers to stop themselves from being hit. and it's at this point where that cctv footage shows the woman falling over into the water. did shejump? well, one eyewitness has told us that she was knocked into the thames by the car. she was andreea christea, the romanian tourist. by thi

bridge before crashing into railings next the houses of parliament -- next to westminster bridge. >> the car -- passed me. that small shop, the victim was hit. i did not pay attention. a second after that, a few meters -- they continued. by the end of the bridge, i did not know what was happening. the car went straight. alexander: the assailant ran to the gates of the palace of westminster and stabbing officer who later died. the attacker described as a middle-aged man was almost immediately shot by other officers on the scene. >> there was allowed bang. sosomeone crashed the car. it took some pedestrians out. they were just laying there. surged around the corner by the gates, just the opposite o of big ben. a guy came across my right shoulder with a knife and just started plunging into the policeman. which had parliament been meeting for prime minister's questions suspended its session and prime minister theresa may was rushed away to safety. after spending two hours capped inside the houses of parliament as police searched the building room by room, relator evacuated to westminster

good afternoon from westminster bridge. the bridge has been closed to traffic.people remember exactly to be held here when people remember exa ctly o ne to be held here when people remember exactly one week on what happened here. i'm joined by exactly one week on what happened here. i'mjoined by one exactly one week on what happened here. i'm joined by one of the organisers of the event. thank you for being with us. tell us first of all why you decided to organise today? there has been a real desire by faith communities in the country, particularly london, to show solidarity. but also to pray for the victims. a testimony to the dedication of the police force and what they have done over the last few days, and how they have been really supportive. in london, we feel that we are working hand—in—hand with the met police. there is an important partnership. there is an important partnership. the hard work put together by faith institutions to build those relationships over the years. it is important to see how londoners have come together. the attack on the heart of

you see this car going down westminster bridge but still he's able to penetrate the perimeter. does it seem as if there was a lack of security there? >> the bridge is a well-known bridge. a good friend of mine told me every time they go to london, they always go to that bridge and take pictures with the family. that's a place where people go. it's very well-known but it's fairly vulnerable. >> but then the car crashes into parliament and he's able to run in and still able to stab a police officer. >> exactly. i think part of the idea about maybe going after the people opt bridge is one, it's vulnerable. and two, that creates chaos. so the objective of hitting people and kill people is being creating chaos so the officers will be deploying over to the bridge and then he crashes into the gate and now they have to deal with that person there, you know, with a hash yet or a knife and now you've got all kinds of problems going on. that's probably part of the game plan. we'll have to see as the investigation continues. >> steve, i wonder. you're talking about an area just outside of

as that news was confirmed that there was a tragedy unfolding on westminster bridge and around the palaceision was taken eventually after consultation to suspend proceedings here at holyrood. the chamber fell silent for the day. but democracy is only postponed, not thwarted entirely. there will be a continuation of that debate here in holyrood on tuesday. there will then be a vote among the parties as to whether those powers should be transferred with the expectation that the vote here will be in favour of that transfer, with the expectation that the prime minister will say no in response to that demand for a transfer. but it is important to bear in mind thatjust as the prime minister is determined to go ahead in the face of tragedy with triggering article 50 next week, beginning the process of britain being removed from the eu, so here at holyrood the parties, the governing party, the opposition, are determined to go ahead with that democratic debate, with that debate about democracy. brian taylor. and as brian was saying, that debate on independence will resume on tuesday. meanwhile msp

witnesses described hearing gunfire near westminster bridge in london. metropolitan police tweeted. they responded to the incident around 10:40 a.m. that would be eastern time here in the united states. a lawmaker tells cnn a car came over the bridge, hitting pedestrians and then crashed into that gate of parliament. we are now told that dozens, repeat, dozens of people have been injured, and then what is thought to be a related incident, witnesses say, an officer was stabbed inside the parliament perimeter. the assailant was then shot by police. we don't know the condition of the assailant. here's how eyewitnesss on the scene describe what happened. >> bodies literally -- >> must have been about ten bodies. >> at least 10, 12 bodies all in -- >> lying in different places along the bridge. >> been shot. >> yes. >> it must have been terrifying. >> it was horrendous. absolutely horrendous. >> the british prime minister theresa may has herself been evacuated from parliament, which was in session. president trump at the white hou house, he has been briefed on the situation by the nationa

violent incidents neaby, and police say they have been called to a firearms incident on nearby westminster bridgeehicle struck several people on the bridge, and photos showed a car plowed into railings.óóó 3:05 p.m.the leader of britain's house of commons says a man has been shot by police at parliament. david lidington also said there were "reports of further violent incidents in the vicinity." london's police said officers had been called to a firearms incident on westminster bridge, near the parliament.a session of parliament was suspended after the incident. britain's mi5 says it is too early to say if the incident is terror-related.óóó2:55 p.m. a session of britain's house of commons has been suspended as witnesses reported hearing sounds like gunfire nearby.the commons' speaker suspended the session as police responded to an incident.journalists at the parliament building said they were told to stay in their offices.the press association news agency reported that two people were seen lying within the grounds of parliament. police had no immediate confirmation. immediate police had no parlia

it took him about 20 seconds to drive the 252 metres across westminster bridge. n ordinary cardriving round a roundabout in waterloo, but he was about to enter the bridge, westminster, bridge, drive on to it and start killing people. this is where he mounted the kerb. witnesses said they thought it was an accident, as masood ran into his first victims. one man fell over the wall of the bridge here and hit the concrete towpath below. it's believed this is where kurt cochran, the us tourist on holiday with his wife, died. at this point, he puts his foot to the floor, accelerating fast and hard. he hits someone else just about here. one was unconscious. imagine the panic along here. people walking along this pavement, desperate to get out of the way. some of them pushing themselves right up to the side barriers to stop themselves from being hit. and it's at this point where that cctv footage shows the woman falling over into the water. did shejump? well, one eyewitness has told us that she was knocked into the thames by the car. she was andrea christi, the romanian t

two people on westminster bridge.ople injured according to scotland yard including a woman pulled from the river thames with serious injuries. i want to play for you a discussion of what the eyewitnesses saw. we'll get to that in a second. look at a picture it of the suspect. this is the man who place say actually attacked the officer in scotland yard. you can see him on the stretcher before he was taken to the hospital. look at distance he traveled. look at the graphic which show the vehicle's path across westminster bridge where he hit the people and cashed outside of the wall in parliament before he attacked police officer who was killed. here is what the eyewitnesses saw in their own words. >> it was a noise i heard first of all. it appears like shots i'm not saying they were. i saw a car go out of control and go into pedestrians on the bridge. and then up to the -- going across the bridge i saw people flying. >> i saw a body next on the ground, not moving. on the pavement. as i got into the square, started to rea