Last Updated Oct 31, 2017 5:10 PM EDT
NEW YORK — Police and witnesses say a motorist drove onto a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center memorial in Manhattan and struck several people, then emerged from the vehicle screaming and brandishing imitation firearms.
Six people were killed in what was described as an intentional act, sources told CBS News. The NYPD tweeted that the driver exited the car displaying the imitation firearms and was shot by police officers.
Law enforcement sources said the incident is being investigated as a terror attack, CBS News’ Pat Milton reports.
The incident occurred at West Street and Chambers Street around 3:10 p.m, CBS New York reported. The NYPD said on its Twitter account just before 3:30 p.m. that one person is in custody. The department isn’t looking for any other suspects, the station reported.
The NYPD said on Twitter there were “several fatalities and numerous people injured.” The department said it was unclear whether anyone was shot or whether the injured were all struck by the vehicle, which entered the pedestrian/bike path a few blocks north of Chambers St. The vehicle appeared to be a Home Depot rental truck.
The truck drove down the bike path for about four blocks before veering back into traffic lanes and striking a school bus and another vehicle. It wasn’t clear whether students were aboard the bus.
“A vehicle drove straight down a bicycle path heading south in Manhattan just mowing everything down,” witness Greg Ahl told 1010 WINS. “It looks like a vehicle drove down the bicycle path and ran everything over.”
An Associated Press photographer on the scene Tuesday witnessed at least two bodies lying motionless on the path beneath tarps.
Video from the scene showed several mangled bicycles along the bike path.
“I noticed along the bike path a bunch of wrecked bicycles and as I drove it was just more and more completely and totally wrecked bicycles and people mulling around to the side. I must’ve seen 30 or 40 bicycles like that,” Ahl said.
A man who was riding in an Uber along the West Side Highway near Chambers street says he saw several bleeding people on the ground.
A large number of police vehicles could be seen near West Street and Chambers Street, which is near a community college, a high school and a few blocks north of the National Sept. 11 Memorial.
Residents were cautioned to avoid the area and to expect many emergency personnel in the area. Nearby Stuyvesant High School was on lockdown as a precaution, the station reports.
The White House says President Donald Trump has been briefed on the incident.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the president and New York native has been briefed by White House chief of staff John Kelly and “will be continually updated as more details are known.”
Sanders says, “Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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