Police statements and eyewitness accounts have helped connect a terrifying sequence of events in Nottingham this morning that has left three people dead and three more hospitalised.
The East Midlands city remains locked down this afternoon with specialist police officers including the government’s armed national inter-agency liaison officers (NILO) in attendance.
More information has been steadily trickling in about the early hours van rampage that has shocked the city – with police confirming they have arrested a 31-year-old man for murder.
The force has not yet said whether the attack was terrorist related.
This is what we know about the incident so far.
Nottingham remains locked down following a terrifying sequence of events this morning
4am: Police called to Ilkeston Road where two people have been killed
Officers were called to Ilkeston Road west of the city centre just after 4am where two people were found dead in the street.
Witnesses described hearing ‘blood-curdling screams’ before seeing an attacker with a rucksack stabbing a man and a woman.
Speaking to the BBC, one witness said he heard ‘awful, blood-curdling screams’ and looked out his window to see a ‘black guy dressed all in black with a hood and rucksack grappling with some people’.
He told the broadcaster: ‘She was screaming ‘Help!’ I just wish I’d shouted something out of the window to unnerve the assailant.
‘I saw him stab the lad first and then the woman. It was repeated stabbing – four or five times. The lad collapsed in the middle of the road.
‘The girl stumbled towards a house and didn’t move. The next minute she had disappeared down the side of a house, and that’s where they found her.
‘I’d say it all happened within five or six minutes. The attacker then just walked off up Ilkeston Road towards town, as calm as anything.’
A local businessman said: ‘This area is not safe. Not safe at all. There are loads of addicts who steal phones from students, but murder? No, this is different.’
Around 5:10am: Residents discover a body on Magdala Road
Police forensics officers on Magdala road, Nottingham, this morning
Residents along the leafy residential road say they were awoken by screams
At 5:30am, a man was also found dead on Magdala Road.
Delivery driver Miklos Toldi, 37, and his wife Petra found the body of the man in Magdala Road as they headed to work in their car at around 5.30am.
They live just 100 yards from where the body was found and stopped their car at the same time as another motorist.
Mr Toldi, a Hungarian national, said the victim had clearly been stabbed. He was aged around 65 with grey hair and black trousers.
‘I saw the body lying in the street,’ he said. ‘There was blood trailing down the road. The blood looked as if it was fresh.’
‘He was lying on his side, his mouth was open and there was no movement.’
Mr Toldi said it took the police only about two or three minutes to arrive at the scene following a 999 call.
Officers turned the man on to his back to start CPR and Mr Toldi said he saw what appeared to be several stab wounds in his chest. ‘His knuckles were also covered in blood,’ he said.
‘It was a big shock. I’m ok but I am worried about my wife.’
A resident was woken at about 5.10am by the sound of a woman ‘screaming’, which he believes was the moment the body was discovered.
The man, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I was worried it was the sound of someone being attacked but thinking about it now it may have been the person who came across the body.’
He said he later saw police and a sheet, probably covering a body, on the road outside the tennis club.
Another resident, 85-year-old Bibi garbutt described being awoken by a loud bang.
The widow said the sound that woke her was ‘such a loud bang that I thought it was very close to my house. It sounded like a bomb but thinking about it now it must have been a gun shot. It didn’t sound like a car crash.
‘I was concerned as it was so loud.
‘This is such a shock because it is such a lovely and quiet street.’
The police have cordoned off a stretch of Magdala Road where a man’s body was found about 75 yards her house.
Around 5:30am: Eyewitness sees van plough into man and woman on Milton Street
A police officer speaks to local residents in Nottingham where a large police presence is in place
Much of the city centre remains cordoned off following the incident
At around 5:30am, police attended another incident in Milton Street where a van had attempted to run over three people, who are currently being treated in hospital.
Lynn Haggitt, an eyewitness to the event, says she saw the driver accelerate straight into ‘two people.’
She said the man looked in his mirror and see a police car behind him, before ‘quickening up’ and slamming into two people.
Due to the impact, she says, the man ‘went up into the air’ and the woman ‘went on to the curb.’
Speaking to Channel 4 News she said: ‘At half past five I saw a van pull up at the side of me.
‘It was white, all white. There was a police car behind it coming up slowly, no flashing lights.
‘The man in the driver’s seat looked in his mirror and saw the police car behind him.’
She said the white van then drove up to ‘the corner of the street and went into two people’.
Ms Haggitt told BBC News that the two people were injured.
She said: ‘The woman went on the kerb, the man went up in the air, there was such a bang, I wish I never saw it, it’s really shaken me up. I went over, perhaps I shouldn’t have gone over but I wanted to see if I could help.
‘He (the van driver) backed up after he hit… and drove up Parliament Street.
‘The woman was sitting up on the kerb, she looked OK. The man was laying down, but then he got up, sat on the side waiting for an ambulance. I can’t believe he was able to get up after the head wound.’
Around 5:40am: Police arrest a man on Bentinck Road on suspicion of murder
Officers are seen pinning a man down on a pavement in Nottingham today. Three people have been killed in the city, police said
Damage is seen to the front of a white van inside a police cordon following a major incident in Nottingham
Police have not yet confirmed the precise time of the arrest this morning
A bag lies beside a white van behind a police cordon on Bentinck Road
Another witness told GB News he heard what sounded like gunshots before seeing armed police arresting a man on Bentinck Road after pulling him from a white van at around 5.30am.
A backpack and a very large knife were taken from the van and the man was resisting arrest, the witness said – adding that the incident happened on Bentinck Road.
The man was wearing a hat and the witness, who did not want to be named, could not see his face.
‘We woke up this morning at about 5.30 in the morning to what sounded like gunshots and we rented a window and there was armed police running out of what looked like an undercover car,’ the witness said.
‘And then the suspect, whoever’s in the van is then tasered and dragged out by them and then they arrested him.
‘We didn’t actually see any gunshots or anything but it certainly sounded like them with the glass all smashed in the van… I didn’t see the person who it was but I saw them arrested from behind.’
He added: ‘We saw a man pinned down on the ground and multiple armed police surrounding him and then more armed police later turned up after that.
‘And few of the armed police actually quickly left to go to the city centre because on the radio we heard there’d been some big commotion in the city centre.’
The forensic officers eventually left the scene on foot with a black crate and large plastic bag.
Dramatic video shows two officers pinning a man to the pavement next to a white van outside a convenience store in Bentinck Road, although police would not say whether this was linked to the investigation.
Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: ‘This is an horrific and tragic incident which has claimed the lives of three people.
‘We believe these three incidents are all linked and we have a man in custody.
‘This investigation is at its early stages and a team of detectives is working to establish exactly what has happened.
‘We ask the public to be patient while inquiries continue. At this time, a number of roads in the city will remain closed as this investigation progresses.’
Six roads around the city and suburbs have been shut and tram services cancelled, while ambulances, fire engines and specialist officers dressed in body armour and helmets are on the scene.
They are National inter-agency liaison officers (NILO) – part of an elite force set up in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing.
Police have said road closures will remain in place for ‘some time’ and vowed to release more information when they can.
Rishi Sunak said he is being kept updated on the ‘shocking incident’ in Nottingham as police investigate, and he paid tribute to those who have lost their lives and their families.
The Prime Minister tweeted: ‘I want to thank the police and emergency services for their ongoing response to the shocking incident in Nottingham this morning.
‘I am being kept updated on developments. The police must be given the time to undertake their work.
‘My thoughts are with those injured, and the family and loved ones of those who have lost their lives.’
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she is ‘shocked and saddened’ at the deaths in Nottingham and has spoken with the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police.
She tweeted: ‘I am shocked & saddened that three people have lost their lives today in Nottingham. My thoughts are with those affected by this incident.
‘I have spoken to @nottspolice Chief Constable & am receiving regular updates. I am thankful to the emergency services for their response.’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his thoughts were with the family and friends of those who had died and were injured in Nottingham.
He tweeted: ‘Awful news from Nottingham this morning. My thoughts are with the family and friends of those who have lost their lives, those injured, and the people of Nottingham.
‘Thank you to the police and the emergency services as they respond to this terrible incident.’
The area around a white Vauxhall Vivaro van in Bentinck Road, Nottingham, was cordoned off today
Police cordoned off around 400 yards of the scene at Ilkeston Road with tape, and what appeared to be medical kit was scattered across the road
The forensic officers eventually left the scene on foot with a black crate and large plastic bag
