The terrorist attack in London on Wednesday took place in the middle of the day, at a time when Westminster was heaving with witnesses.
Rick Longley saw a man lunge and stab a policeman after a car ploughed into pedestrians.
Fighting back tears, he said: “We were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy, someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out. They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben.
“A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman. I have never seen anything like that. I just can’t believe what I just saw.”
Witness Quentin Letts said he saw a man in black attack a police officer outside parliament before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the House of Commons. “I saw a thick-set man in black clothes come through the gates into New Palace Yard, just below Big Ben,” he told the BBC.
“He had something in his hand, it looked like a stick of some sort, and he was challenged by a couple of policemen in yellow jackets. And one of the yellow-jacketed policemen fell down and we could see the man in black moving his arm in a way that suggested he was stabbing or striking the yellow-jacketed policeman.”
Warning
The other officer ran to get help and the man in black ran about 15 yards towards the entrance, he said.
“As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell,” said Mr Letts.
Steve Voake (55) was walking across the Westminster Bridge towards the South Bank when he saw the aftermath. He said he saw at least two bodies lying on the road and one in the water.
“I saw a trainer lying in the road and when I looked more closely I saw that there were a couple of bodies the other side of the road,” he said. “And when I looked over the side there was another body lying in the water with blood all around it.”
Helicopter
Bradford Buck, from Connecticut in the US, saw the incident unfolding and took cover with his wife. "Police cars just kept coming one after another after another – I've never seen such a quick response. Then a little bit later the helicopter came," he said.
“My wife and I came up from Westminster Underground, we walked across to Parliament and there was a car crashed into the gate there. Police officers were running with machine guns, and there was a man down right next to the car.”
Fearing for their safety, Mr Buck and his wife sheltered behind some concrete, before police moved them to safety.
Another witness, Richard Tice, said he "counted between eight and 10 prostrate figures on the ground" after he came out of Westminster underground station and moved on to Westminster Bridge. "My understanding from someone who was standing next to me was that a car had driven along the whole pavement knocking people over and that is why there were many injuries," he told Sky News. "The people lying on the ground were starting to be attended to by a paramedic." – (PA)