A witness to a suspected terror attack outside a synagogue said a man “started stabbing anyone near him” in the incident.
Two people have died and a man has been shot by armed police after a car was driven at pedestrians and a person was stabbed in front of Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, on Middleton Road in Crumpsall, Greater Manchester, on Thursday morning.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Chava Lewin, who described herself as a religious Jew and lives next door to the synagogue, said: “I was outside and heard a banging sound and I thought it might be a firework.
“My husband went outside and then ran back inside and said, ‘There’s been a terrorist attack’.
“I spoke to someone who said she was driving and saw a car driving erratically and it crashed into the gates (of the synagogue).
“She thought maybe he had a heart attack. The second he got out of the car he started stabbing anyone near him. He went for the security guard and tried to break into the synagogue. He was in the courtyard.
“Someone barricaded the door. Everyone is in utter shock.”
Greater Manchester Police said three other people are in a serious condition following the attack, which comes as members of the Jewish community observe Yom Kippur – considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Officers were called to the scene at 9.31am by a member of the public who said he had witnessed a car being driven towards people, and one man had been stabbed.
Police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and declared Plato, the national code-word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”, and a major incident at 9.37am.
Footage shared on social media appeared to show members of the public shouting to firearms officers that the suspect had a bomb strapped to him.
In a statement after midday, the force said the suspect is believed to be dead after shots were fired by armed police at 9.38am – but officers said his condition “cannot currently be confirmed due to safety issues surround suspicious items on his person”.
Video shared on social media appeared to show police officers pointing guns at someone laying on the ground outside the front of Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.
The armed officers shouted at onlookers to “get back” and “move on”.
The person on the ground is seen starting to get up before there is the sound of a gunshot and they fall to the ground.
Another person was shown lying motionless on the ground outside the synagogue gates with blood near their head.
A delivery driver called Gareth, who told BBC Radio Manchester he witnessed the incident, said a man was “stabbing the window” and “trying to get into” the synagogue.
“We got a bit closer. We seen a guy bleeding out on the floor. He was just basically unconscious on the floor, presumed, obviously, dead,” he said.
“And then literally, there was (another) a guy in front of the car. He’s just lay on the floor. We couldn’t really see him.
“And like there was a few people stood in the road. Somebody shouted something ‘he’s in the school or the synagogue’, or what it was.
“And then, as we looked over, the guy had a knife, and he was just stabbing the window trying to get in the school (synagogue).
“And then within seconds the police arrived. They gave him a couple of warnings. He didn’t listen, so they opened fire.
“He went down on the floor, and then he started getting back up, and then they shot him again.”
Paramedics arrived at the scene at 9.47am, and bomb disposal crews arrived after 11am.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “We know today’s horrifying attack, on the Jewish community’s holiest day, will have caused significant shock and fear throughout all of our communities.
“We are grateful to the member of the public whose quick response to what they witnessed allowed our swift action, and as a result the offender was prevented from entering the synagogue.”
