UK police say 3 dead in incident in Nottingham

Police in Nottingham in the United Kingdom arrested a man after three people were found dead in the city on Tuesday.

A van had also tried to run over another three people.

"We believe these three incidents are all linked, and we have a man in custody," Chief Constable Kate Meynell said. "This investigation is at its early stages and a team of detectives is working to establish exactly what has happened."

People were told to stay clear of the city center that the area was locked down.

What do we know about the incident?

Police say they were called early in the morning when two people were found dead on one road in the city's center.

They were then alerted to another incident nearby where someone driving a van had tried to run over three people. They were being treated in a hospital, with no immediate update on their condition.

Another man was found dead on a road just outside the city center.

Meynell described it as a "horrific and tragic incident."

A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police did not give an indication of a possible motive for the attacks.

Roads were closed and the Nottingham tram network suspended, with emergency services visible throughout the city.

Meynell said the roads would stay closed during the ongoing investigation.

What did the witnesses see?

One resident said he was woken up at around 5:00 am to the sound of police cars passing his house.

"They just kept coming so I knew something quite major... was happening somewhere around the city center," the 46-year-old delivery driver Glen Gretton told news agency AFP.

Another woman told the BBC she had seen a van hit a man and a woman, leaving them lying on the street.

"He went straight into these two people. The woman went on the curb, the man went up in the air. There was such a bang," the woman, identified as Lynn, said. "I wish I never saw it. It's really shaken me up."

Sunak calls deaths 'shocking incident'

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thanked the police and emergency services for their response to what he described as a "shocking" incident.

He said he was on top of the latest developments, adding that the police must be given time needed to do their work.

"My thoughts are with those injured, and the family and loved ones of those who have lost their lives," Sunak tweeted.

Nottingham lies in the English Midlands some 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of London, with a population of around 350,000. 

rmt/lo (AP, Reuters)