Police opened fire on a vehicle outside
the Ukrainian embassy in west London after the driver deliberately and
repeatedly rammed into the official car of the country's UK ambassador.
An official statement from the embassy said officers were called to the
scene in the Holland Park area on Saturday morning and attempted to
block the offending vehicle, but it continued to hit the car parked
outside.
It was also driven at police officers, which the embassy said forced them "to open fire on the perpetrator's vehicle".
Onlookers described seeing officers armed with sub-machine guns and a suspect being "wrestled" to the ground.
Scotland Yard confirmed that a man in his 40s was arrested at the scene
on suspicion of the attempted murder of police officers and criminal
damage.
He was taken to a central London hospital as a precaution, following the use of firearms and a Taser.
The ambassador, Natalia Galibarenko, was not at the embassy at the time and no other staff were injured.
Police said the man they arrested also suffered no injuries and that the incident is not being treated as terror-related.
A neighbour who witnessed the arrest believes the suspect reversed into
the ambassador's car while backing away from an oncoming police car.
Emma Slatter, who is Visa's general counsel, said: "It seems like he was
moving erratically or wanting to move away from being boxed in, maybe
not realising there were police behind him as well.
"That was when he collided backwards.
"I think I heard about half a dozen shots."
Two other witnesses told Press Association that they believed the suspect was Caucasian.
Heather Feiner, a mother-of-two originally from the US, said: "My kids
were hanging out in the living room. They said, 'Mum, is that
firecrackers?'
"I saw all this police activity. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, what's going on?'"
She added that there were four marked police cars outside by the time she reached her ground floor window.
"From the time I heard the shots until I got to the window, which took
about 15 seconds, all these police cars were already there," she said.
"I'm wondering if they were already trying to stop this person.
"I could see a police officer that fired the shots. I could see them pointing their gun at the car.
"They had a guy on the ground. I think he was Caucasian."
Another resident in the street, Lois Saint-Pierre, 89, said she had seen a Causasian suspect.
"I heard the gun go off twice and then they wrestled him (the suspect) to the ground," she told PA.
Chief Superintendent Andy Walker, from the Met's specialist firearms
command, said: "As is standard procedure, an investigation is now
ongoing into the discharge of a police firearm during this incident.
"While this takes place, I would like to pay tribute to the officers
involved this morning who responded swiftly to this incident and put
themselves in harm's way, as they do every day, to keep the people of
London safe."
Officers have remained at the scene during the day, with a silver
Mercedes car pictured parked across a street with its boot open and
damage to the driver-side front window.
The vehicle has been a focus of attention for forensics officers.
Meanwhile, the directorate of professional standards, which investigates
complaints against the professional conduct of officers in the Met, has
been informed of the incident.
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