Three killed as car smashes into pedestrians in Melbourne

Three people were killed and several others seriously injured after a car plowed into pedestrians in Australia’s second-largest city on Friday, prompting a major police operation as officials told the public to stay away from the area.

A man driving the vehicle struck “a number of pedestrians” on Bourke Street, a main road running through downtown Melbourne, Victoria state police said in a statement. A man was arrested following the incident, police said. They did not immediately release other details and said they are still trying to determine what happened.

At least three people were killed, police said. Paramedics were assessing 20 people at the scene, several of whom had serious injuries, Ambulance Victoria said in a statement.

Victoria police acting commander Stuart Bateson said the driver deliberately ran into the pedestrians, but that it was not terror related.

He added that the incident was related to an earlier stabbing, but there was no further threat to the public.

Eyewitnesses described the driver moving purposefully through the crowd.

“He wasn’t stopping and people walking were trying to get away and he just kept going and collected people on his way,” one unnamed witness told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper.

Another witness told Australia’s News 24 that the car sent people flying “like skittles.”

“He was moving, I’d say, at around 60 kilometers per hour. But he was just driving in a really determined fashion, just in a straight line,” the witness, who only gave his name as Sian, said. “There was no hesitancy as he got to the crowds, he didn’t swerve, he just drove right through them.”

Television footage from the scene showed a damaged red car with the front doors open and the windscreen smashed.

Other pictures showed what appeared to be a upturned baby pram.

Video footage shot from a news helicopter overhead showed several heavily armed police officers standing near the area where the incident occurred. The area around the incident was shut down.

This looks heavy. William and Bourke STS. pic.twitter.com/lrQSxEkeuu

— Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) January 20, 2017

“Pedestrian access has been closed along Bourke Street between Williams and Swanston. Police are asking for the public to avoid the area,” police said.

There were reports on social media of people hearing shots and pictures appeared to show a person being pulled from the car and apprehended.

https://twitter.com/BWAdamson/status/822275850787635200

The Australian Open tennis championship is currently being held in the city.