Swedish police have arrested two people after at least four were killed, and another 15 injured after a truck plowed into a department store in central Stockholm Friday afternoon.
Citing Swedish radio, the Associated Press reported that shots were also fired at the scene of the incident, sending shoppers fleeing the area.
Cellphone video shows people running frantically from buildings onto the streets near where the truck slammed into the department store.
Photos from the scene show at least three bodies covered in blankets near a pedestrian walkway in the shopping district.
According to The Local.se, a Swedish-English news website, police responded to a call just before 3 p.m. local time for a report of a number of people being injured in an incident involving a vehicle.
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Sweden hijacked truck removed from scene -
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Terrorists ram truck into crowd in Sweden’s capital -
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At least 3 dead, several injured in Swedish ‘terror attack’ -
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Amateur video shows civilians fleeing in moments following truck incident in Stockholm, Sweden -
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Video shows smoke rising from site of Stockholm attack -
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Tracks on road near area where truck plowed into department store in Swedish ‘terror attack’ -
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Stockholm police relocate news camera in minutes following incident involving truck -
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Swedish PM honours victims of Stockholm truck attack -
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Eiffel Tower goes dark in solidarity with victims of Sweden attack
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said the truck crash “is an act of terror” that had killed at least two people.
“Given what has happened in other parts of Europe, we cannot currently exclude that this is a terrorist crime,” read a statement from police.
WATCH: Swedish PM says nation is in shock, anger after truck plowed into crowd in Stockholm
Police later confirmed a suspect was arrested in connection to the truck attack.
“One person has been arrested who may be connected with the incident,” police said in a statement. Prosecutors said the man had been arrested on the strongest degree of suspicion of committing a terror crime.
The man was arrested on the highest level of suspicion available under Swedish law.
Citing unnamed sources, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported a man had confessed to carrying out the truck attack before being taken into custody.
Swedish public service radio cited a source at a German authority saying the arrested man was Uzbek.
Police sources told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the second man detained was connected to the other man who was arrested.
At an afternoon press conference, Swedish police released a still image of a “person of interest” captured on CCTV footage near where the incident occurred.
“I have a picture of a person who has been seen at the location at this point in time. We want to get in contact with this person,” Mats Lofving, head of Swedish police’s National Operations Department said.
The grainy image shown by police showed a man wearing a jacket with a dark hood over a bright T-shirt and dark trousers.
Later Friday, police confirmed that they arrested a second man in the northern suburb of Hjulsta and he is said to be connected to the man who was arrested earlier on Friday.
According to The Local, Swedish beer maker Spendrups said one of its trucks had been “hijacked” earlier in the day.
“During a delivery to the restaurant Caliente someone jumped into the driver’s cabin and drove off with the car while the driver unloads,” the news website quoted a brewery spokesperson as saying.
Photos show a beer truck sticking out of the department store.
A witness described to Reuters news agency how the truck plowed into people before slamming into the department store.
“We were standing by the traffic lights at Drottninggatan and then we heard some screaming and saw a truck coming,” the witness told Reuters. “Then it drove into a pillar at Ahlens City (department store) where the hood started burning. When it stopped we saw a man lying under the tire. It was terrible to see.”
World leaders stand ‘united with Stockholm’
The mayor of London, where five people were killed in a vehicle and knife attack last month, said the British capital “stands united with Stockholm.”
Sadiq Khan said it appears Sweden has “seen a despicable act of terrorism aimed at harming innocent people and attacking our shared values of democracy, freedom, justice and tolerance.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also condemned the attack and said Canada stands in solidarity with Sweden.
“Canada grieves with our Swedish friends in this difficult time and we offer all possible assistance,” Trudeau said in a statement Friday. “We will continue working with our international partners and allies, including Sweden, to fight terrorism and help prevent these senseless acts.”
In Finland, President Sauli Niinisto said he is shocked by the “maniac act of terror” in Stockholm.
“Every terror attack is to be equally condemned. But it touches us deeply when such an attack takes place in our Nordic neighbourhood,” Niinisto said in a statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said the German government’s “thoughts are with the people in Stockholm, the injured, the relatives, first responders and police.”
Friday’s truck attack comes just weeks after the deadly terror attack in London where Khalid Masood drove a rental car into bystanders on Westminster Bridge, killing four people and injuring dozens more before fatally stabbing a police officer on the grounds of the British Parliament. A fifth person, who fell from the bridge, died of her injuries Friday.
In December 2016, a terrorist used a truck to plow into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people, while 86 people were killed when a terrorist drove a truck into large crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France in July.
–with files from Rahul Kalvapalle, Andrew Russell and Reuters.
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