Our live coverage of the London Bridge attack has ended for the day. Read up on the latest news below.
The London Bridge suspect, Usman Khan, “attended an event earlier on Friday afternoon at Fishmonger’s Hall called ‘Learning Together,’” Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said.
Basu continued by saying “we believe the attack began inside before he left the building and proceeded onto the Bridge.”
According to information on the “Learning Together” webpage, the group was celebrating a Five Year Celebration Alumni Event at Fishmonger’s Hall. The event was due to run between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. (6 a.m. ET through 11 a.m. ET).
The group, according to its website, is affiliated with the University of Cambridge and two professors, Ruth Armstrong and Amy Ludlow, work at the Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology.
The University of Cambridge tweeted the following message at 1:39 p.m. ET on Friday: “we are gravely concerned at reports that University of Cambridge staff, students and alumni were caught up in the incident at London Bridge.”
Later Friday evening, the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University Stephen J. Toope, said he was “devastated to learn that today’s hateful attack on London Bridge may have been targeted at staff, students and alumni attending an event organised by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology.”
Neil Basu, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, said a man and two women injured in Friday’s attack remain hospitalized.
He also identified the two people killed on London Bridge as a man and a woman.
A terror suspect who was shot dead on London Bridge Friday has been identified as 28-year-old Usman Khan, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said in a statement.
Khan had been residing in the Staffordshire area in England.?Police are carrying out a search at an address in the county of Staffordshire.
Khan was known to authorities having been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offenses and released from prison in December 2018 on license, according to the statement.
When prisoners are released on a license, they are given an electronic tag and they must abide by certain conditions like a home detention curfew, according to a Crown Prosecution Service barrister. If they violate the conditions, they are returned to prison without an appeal.?
West Midlands Police released the following photo of Khan:
Tom Gray, a tour guide who tried to apprehend the terror suspect, told CNN affiliate ITV that the attacker was “wielding two knives, one was duct-taped to his hand.”
After other bystanders held the suspect down, Gray said he tried to “stamp the other knife from his wrist” and then kicked it further down the bridge.
Gray also said that he saw the suspect “running away from five guys running him down with a fire extinguisher.”
A law enforcement source tells CNN that British authorities are currently searching an address believed to be associated with the London Bridge attacker.
CNN previously reported that police have now positively identified the suspect, who was shot dead by police.
Sources have told CNN that the London bridge attacker “was released from jail for terror offenses on license.”?
According to a Crown Prosecution Service barrister, when prisoners are released on a license, they are given an electronic tag and they must abide by certain conditions like a home detention curfew. If they violate the conditions, they will be returned to prison without an appeal.
Earlier tonight, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that it is a “mistake” to allow violent criminals out of prison early.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to give police the support they need for their investigations following the stabbing attack at London Bridge.
The prime minister also took the opportunity to say his thoughts were with the families and everyone caught up in the attack that left two dead today.?
Johnson, speaking prior to an emergency meeting at 10 Downing Street, also talked about the importance of enforcing appropriate prison sentences for criminals and especially terrorists.
“I have long argued that it is a mistake to allow serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early,” he said in a pool interview.?
A law enforcement official familiar with the ongoing investigation tells CNN that British police have positively identified the London Bridge attacker.
What we know: The suspect was fatally shot by police after a stabbing attack at London Bridge, police said. Two people were killed in the attack.
New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio shared his condolences on Twitter following the stabbing attack in London today.
“On behalf of all New Yorkers, I want to express our condolences to Mayor @SadiqKhan and the people of London after the horrific terror attack on London Bridge,” de Blasio said.
Read his tweet:
It’s an “absolute priority” to identify the two people who were killed by the suspect in the London Bridge stabbing attack, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick told reporters on tonight.
Three other people are being treated for injuries, Dick said.?
The attack started in Fishmonger’s Hall in London, Dick told reporters.
“My understanding is that police were called at 13:58 hours and city of London police officers had bravely and professionally confronted the suspect by 14:03 hours, just five minutes later,” she added.?
The Metropolitan police commissioner warned that there would be more police presence in the coming days, both armed and unarmed, patrolling the streets.?
A State Department official told CNN today that they “are not aware of any US citizens affected by today’s events at London Bridge.”
Earlier today: Police opened fire on a suspect today during a stabbing incident. Police observed some sort of wiring and adhesive material protruding from what turned out to be a hoax device the suspect was wearing, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the ongoing investigation.
Realizing they did not have control over the suspect, and since officers and bystanders were in the vicinity, officers shot and killed the suspect to eliminate any possible threat, the official said.
Two victims of the stabbing have died.
Two people who were injured in the London Bridge stabbing attack have died, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said in a news conference today.
These deaths are in addition to the suspect who was shot dead, she added.?
Hours after the stabbing attack in London, three people were wounded in a stabbing incident in the Dutch city of Hague, the city’s police said on Twitter on this evening.?
Police did not mention a motive for the attack.?
The following video from the scene was taken by Twitter user Sebastian Kruis.
The Labour party has suspended campaigning in London tonight in the wake of the stabbing attack, its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said in a statement.?
He continued: “We are suspending campaigning in London tonight as a mark of respect for those who suffered in this attack. We will not be cowed by those who threaten us. We must and we will stand together to reject hatred and division.”
Earlier today, the leader of the Conservatives, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also said that the party would stop campaigning for the evening.
European Council President Charles Michel said he was saddened by the terror attack in London.
Danish Prime Minister?Mette Frederiksen also expressed solidarity, tweeting:?
The London Bridge underground station has reopened after a stabbing attack in its vicinity.
The first train left the station at 6:28 p.m. local time (1:28 p.m. ET), and security cordons were lifted.?
Initial reports from the UK are that responding police opened fire on the suspect after observing some type of wiring and adhesive material protruding from what turned out to be a hoax device, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the ongoing investigation.
Realizing they did not have control over the suspect, and since officers and bystanders were in the vicinity, officers fired on the suspect to eliminate any possible threat, the official said.
The incident in London Bridge has been contained “to the best of our knowledge,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday evening.
Johnson also urged the public to remain vigilant and thanked emergency serviced for their bravery.?
“We are very saddened to learn some people have been injured in this event and sympathies are with them and tier loved ones.?Anybody?involved?in this crime and these attacks will be?hunted?down?and?brought?to?justice,” Johnson said.
He added that the UK will “never be cowed, or divided, or intimidated by this sort of attack” and that?“our British values will prevail.”?
Johnson concluded that he has stopped campaigning for the upcoming UK general election for the evening, but will be reviewing that decision in the next few hours.?
A NATO official tells CNN that with the London attack taking place just days before the long-planned NATO meeting in London, the alliance is not making any change in plans for next week’s summit in London.?
President Trump and other leaders are scheduled to attend a summit in London next week that will also mark the 70th?anniversary of the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Pauline Neville-Jones, former head of Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee, told CNN a few moments ago that the hoax vest likely won’t tell investigators “a great deal” though he will have received some help in how to make it look real.”
“It appears to have been a dummy vest but it will have been made up to look like something real in order to deter people from doing exactly what happened – to tackle him,” Neville-Jones said.
She added that one of the things that is very difficult about modern attacks in the UK is potential attackers have gotten smarter.
“They have learned over time that the more they communicate, electronically, the more likely they are to be picked up before they actually get to the point of attacking,” she said. “So a lot of these incidents are organized extremely locally by word of mouth with very little trace beforehand.”
Neville-Jones said the other side of this coin is that attacks planned locally tend to be smaller.
CNN’s Nina Dos Santos is live from the scene near London Bridge.
She’s talking to Olivia Bizot, who escaped both this incident and the Boston marathon bombings.
“I was coming towards the bridge on my bike and I heard explosions. I didn’t really assume it was gunshots at first,” Bizot says.
“All of sudden all these people came running like a flood of people… A few years ago I was at the Boston marathon bombings and I was at the finish line just before it occurred and it was the same thing – everyone running, panic on their faces.”
Head here to watch live.
CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh says there has been “minimal confirmed information” on the incident.
“Police were called to an establishment during which there was a stabbing and, it appears, as a result of that a number of people have been stabbed and one man has been shot,” he says.
“We believed the person who has been shot may in fact have been the assailant that you’ve seen in some of those graphic videos. What is not clear is the cause of the argument.
“Scotland Yard, British police, are saying they are treating this as though it’s terror-related but they do say also that the circumstances remain unclear. It’s important to remember as this develops because in London there are lots of other reasons why a stabbing may occur, gang violence in particular.”
A number of the casualties from the London Bridge attack are seriously injured, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said during a press conference on Friday.
“As soon as it’s possible to provide an update on their condition, the Met Police will do so. I’ll ask you all to please respect the privacy of those affected,” Khan said.
Khan also praised heroism from members of the public as the “very best of humanity” after they stepped in to confront the suspect – even though the person was wearing what appeared to be an explosive vest.
“What’s remarkable about the images we’ve seen is the breathtaking heroism of members of the public who literally ran towards danger not knowing what confronted them,” Khan said.
“We do know from the statement given by the Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu that there appears to have been a device on the suspect. Members of the public didn’t realize at the time that was a hoax … they really are the best of us. Another example of the bravery of ordinary Londoners running towards danger, risking their own personal safety to try and save others,” Khan continued.
Here is a timeline of the incident near London Bridge on Friday afternoon:
CNN’s Nina dos Santos is about 200 to 300 yards from the scene of the incident near London Bridge. She says police officers and security guards are escorting people from high-rise office buildings in the immediate area.?
“I’ve been here on the scene since about 45 mins after this incident took place and I can tell you we’ve had a steady procession of marked and unmarked police vehicles, ambulances, and a helicopter has been overhead for the best part of the last two to three hours,” she reports.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is due to make a statement shortly following the incident near London Bridge this afternoon.
A few moments ago, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner?Neil Basu, announced that the incident was now being investigated as a “terrorist incident.”
See Basu’s short statement below:
Thirty-five-year-old Lloyd?Griffiths lives and works in London. He told CNN that he was traveling on a bus when he saw an altercation taking place on the street.
“it was very, very traumatizing. A horrible experience,” Griffiths said a little while ago. “I was actually on my phone before. Then I realized there was an altercation happening so I kind of pressed record.
“It looked like members of the public were fighting with a man that was – it looked like he was trying to be pinned down onto the pavement on the left-hand side of the pavement on London Bridge.”
He continued, “And very quickly, there’s at least one member of the public to help and then the police went over with some guns and it ended with the man being shot.”
Restaurants in Borough Market area have been closed up following the incident near London Bridge on Friday afternoon. CNN say tables left in a state of disarray as diners picked up their belongings and left in a hurry.
A man was shot dead by police following an attack on London Bridge on Friday, the Metropolitan police assistant commissioner Neil Basu said in a press conference.?
Police are treating the attack as terror related, Basu said, adding that the suspect had a hoax explosive device strapped to him.?
Simon Shorey and his family are on a day trip to London from Sussex, an area south of the capital. After grabbing a bite to eat at Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) in Clink Street, they had planned on visiting the Shard tower. But their lunch was interrupted by the incident and they were told to hide under tables.
“The whole restaurant had people under their tables and sat down on the floor,” he told CNN. He says people were trying to keep updated with the latest developments on their phones and the atmosphere started to calm down.
“It seemed to suggest it was all over and then after 25 minutes it felt like it kicked off again,” he continued. “There were people running down the street just outside the windows of the restaurant. They weren’t screaming at that time but people were running back down and after a few more minutes we were told ‘everyone out, everyone out.”
Shorey praised police for their handling of the situation.
“We have three young kids and the police were able to smile and keep the calm. I don’t know what’s going on but clearly it’s not over.”?
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has now tweeted out a longer statement thanking emergency services for their response on Friday afternoon.
London’s Metropolitan Police have released another update, saying that “a number of people have been stabbed.”
Owen Jones, a columnist for the Guardian, was by London Bridge when this incident started to unfold on Friday afternoon.
“I was about to cycle across London Bridge,” he explains to CNN. “This was just minutes after the incident had unfolded and … all the emergency services were arriving at that point.”
Jones says he realized the incident was serious when he “cycled into a police cordon as it was being unfurled.”
“People were running from the area and people were fighting. The police were yelling at them ‘keep moving keep moving’ and obviously people were panicking. It’s a surreal moment when you’re in an urban area and people are fleeing the area you’re about to cycle through. It feels like you’re in a slightly surreal disaster film.”
Jones said the area around London Bridge remains cordoned off and the area is evacuated.
London’s Metropolitan Police are expected to make a statement at the top of the hour from outside Scotland Yard.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service says on Twitter that their officials are responding to the incident “as though it is terror-related.”
They also clarified that one man has been shot. The person’s identity was not immediately clear.
Police and emergency services are responding to incident at London Bridge on Friday afternoon.
The areas on both side of the bridge are usually quite busy, with many offices, restaurants and bars nearby. London Bridge itself is one of the UK capital’s main transport hubs with thousands of people traveling through it every day. The incident took place just hours before city workers clock off for the week and head to the station for their train home.
National Security analyst Peter Bergen describes London Bridge as one of the city’s “iconic places.”
“There’s great concern about this particular location, London Bridge, where two years ago there was a terrorist incident where eight people were killed on London Bridge and at the nearby Borough Market,” he tells CNN.
“Interestingly, the British authorities had recently lowered the terrorism alert from severe to substantial – severe means an attack is highly likely and substantial means the risk is lower – so if indeed this does turn out to be terrorism British authorities will have to explain why they so recently lowered the alert to that level.”
He added: “It’s one of these iconic places in London. That could just be a coincidence, but if you want to make some sort of statement you go to these iconic places knowing it’s going to get more attention and more coverage.”
The official account of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has posted a short comment on the incident, thanking authorities for “their immediate response.”
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel wrote on Twitter that she was “very concerned” over the incident unfolding on Friday afternoon.
Noa Bodner was at a cafe near to London Bridge when she suddenly saw a rush of people run in.
“Immediately, the manager ran and shut the door and locked it,” she told CNN a few moments ago.
“We were told that shots were heard … And then when we saw police coming to the bridge and closing it off, we were asked to move to the back of the restaurant, obviously away from the windows,” she added.
Bodner said the police appeared to be in full riot gear.
She said she saw officers carrying “assault rifle, helmets with cameras on them, all dressed in black, black balaclavas – which is not something you see … normal case is they don’t even carry a gun, definitely not an assault rifle, that’s very unusual for London.”
The bridge and immediate area remains locked down by officials, who are yet to comment on reports of shots fired.
London Ambulance Service has declared a “major incident” over London Bridge in a post on its official Twitter account.?
“We have now declared a major incident and have a number of crews at the scene in London Bridge,”?London Ambulance Service?wrote on Twitter.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, also wrote on Twitter that he was keeping across the unfolding situation.
Stevie Beer, 26, works at a building overlooking London Bridge. She tells CNN she was alerted to a situation on the bridge by a colleague who was trapped behind a cordon after going out to grab lunch.
“A colleague out for lunch messaged to say there’d been an incident on London Bridge and he was unable to cross back over the river,” Beer says. “I went straight to the window and saw hundreds of people running off the bridge down Tooley Street.”
Beer said there were reports that nearby Borough Market was also being evacuated on Friday afternoon as well.
Britain’s PA news agency is reporting a cordon has been established around Borough Market while local shops are evacuated.
Jinnat Ui Hasan tells CNN he was in a meeting in a building near London Bridge when he heard “more than five” gunshots.?He took these photos of the scene after the gunshots.
London Metropolitan Police has not confirmed shots were fired, with its press office describing the situation as “dynamic.”
In an update on Twitter, London’s Metropolitan Police said an individual has been “detained” after police were called to reports of a stabbing near London Bridge at 1:58 p.m. (8:58 a.m. ET).
Transport For London have alerted commuters moving around the UK capital that London Bridge subway station is closed in both directions. Overground trains will continue going through the area but are not stopping at the station either, according to Southeastern train operator.
Images and video posted to social media on Friday afternoon showed emergency response vehicles racing to the scene.
Some witnesses in the vicinity have reported shots being fired, CNN has been unable to independently verify this.
British police say they are responding to an incident unfolding in central London on Friday afternoon.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a post on Twitter that they were in the “early stages” of the incident and called on public to follow instruction from officers at the scene.