Three people are dead and three injured in Nottingham after a van rampage, with police arresting a 31-year-old man for murder. 

Officers were called to Ilkeston Road west of the city centre just after 4am where two people were found dead in the street.

They then attended another incident in Milton Street where a van had attempted to run over three people, who are currently being treated in hospital. 

A man was also found dead in Magdala Road in a third incident police believe was linked to the other two. 

Officers have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder and he remains in custody. Dramatic video shows two officers pinning a man to the pavement next to a white van. 

The city centre remains locked down this morning, with dozens of squad cars, fire engines and ambulances on the scene, together with specialist officers in body armour.  

Today, police cordoned off around 400 yards of the scene at Ilkeston Road with tape, and what appeared to be medical kit was scattered across the road.

Two forensic officers arrived and appeared to dedicate the majority of their time at a bathroom and plumbing business called Willbond.

Witness Lynn Haggitt told Channel 4 News she saw a van hitting two people near the Theatre Royale in Nottingham City Centre at around 5.30am. 

‘At half past five I saw a van pull up at the side of me,’ she said. ‘It was white, all white. There was a police car behind it coming up slowly, no flashing lights.

‘The man in the driver’s seat looked in his mirror and saw the police car behind him.’

She said the white van then drove up to ‘the corner of the street and went into two people’.

‘The lady ended up on the curb, and then he backed up the white van and he went, speeded up Parliament Street with the police cars following him,’ Ms Haggitt added. 

When asked if she thought the collision was deliberate, Ms Haggitt said: ‘I don’t think I should say that, but to me he went straight into them, he didn’t even bother to turn, just went back straight into them.’

When asked if the people hit were hurt badly, she said that a man appeared to have a head injury.

‘They did get him to his feet,’ she added, but said of the woman who was hit: ‘She was sitting up on the curb, to me she looked OK’.

‘I was there for 15 minutes and there was no ambulance. One of the policemen, I think, did first aid. He looked after a man on the floor.’

Ms Haggitt told BBC News she spotted the van while she was on her way to work. 

‘He looked in his mirror, saw a police car behind him, he then quickened up, there were two people, two in the corner, he went straight into these two people.’

‘The woman went on the kerb, the man went up in the air, there was such a bang, I wish I never saw it, it’s really shaken me up. I went over, perhaps I shouldn’t have gone over but I wanted to see if I could help.

‘He (the van driver) backed up after he hit… and drove up Parliament Street.

‘The woman was sitting up on the kerb, she looked OK. The man was laying down, but then he got up, sat on the side waiting for an ambulance. I can’t believe he was able to get up after the head wound.’ 

Another witness told GB News he heard what sounded like gunshots before seeing armed police arresting a man after pulling him from a white van at around 5.30am.

A backpack and a very large knife were taken from the van and the man was resisting arrest, the witness said – adding that the incident happened on Bentinck Road.

The man was wearing a hat and the witness, who did not want to be named, could not see his face.

‘We woke up this morning at about 5.30 in the morning to what sounded like gunshots and we rented a window and there was armed police running out of what looked like an undercover car,’ the witness said.

‘And then the suspect, whoever’s in the van is then tasered and dragged out by them and then they arrested him. 

‘We didn’t actually see any gunshots or anything but it certainly sounded like them with the glass all smashed in the van… I didn’t see the person who it was but I saw them arrested from behind.’

He added: ‘We saw a man pinned down on the ground and multiple armed police surrounding him and then more armed police later turned up after that.

‘And few of the armed police actually quickly left to go to the city centre because on the radio we heard there’d been some big commotion in the city centre.’

The forensic officers eventually left the scene on foot with a black crate and large plastic bag.

Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: ‘This is an horrific and tragic incident which has claimed the lives of three people.

‘We believe these three incidents are all linked and we have a man in custody.

‘This investigation is at its early stages and a team of detectives is working to establish exactly what has happened.

‘We ask the public to be patient while inquiries continue. At this time, a number of roads in the city will remain closed as this investigation progresses.’ 

Six roads around the city and suburbs have been shut and tram services cancelled, while ambulances, fire engines and specialist officers dressed in body armour and helmets are on the scene.

They are National inter-agency liaison officers (NILO) – part of an elite force set up in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing. 

Police have said road closures will remain in place for ‘some time’ and vowed to release more information when they can.

Local resident Glen Gretton said he was woken up at around 5am morning by the sounds of a series of police cars passing his home.

The 46-year-old delivery driver, who lives in a flat in Mansfield Road in Sherwood, said: ‘I heard a police car go past. 

‘It was driving extremely quickly, followed by another one, another one.

‘They just kept coming so I knew something quite major … was happening somewhere around the city centre.’

Rishi Sunak said he is being kept updated on the ‘shocking incident’ in Nottingham as police investigate, and he paid tribute to those who have lost their lives and their families.