At Least 6 Dead in Attack in Lower Manhattan
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 truck 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.
"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 witness said the truck had also collided with a small bus and one other vehicle.
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.
The NYPD says information is preliminary and the investigation is ongoing.
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.
