A woman has been stabbed to death in a west London street by a man who was then run over and killed by a car.
The Metropolitan police said it had launched an urgent investigation after the incident in Chippenham Road, Maida Vale, at about 9am on Monday.
An eyewitness to the fatal knife attack said he saw a man repeatedly stab a woman in the chest as he shouted “take it, take it”.
The attack was only stopped when the man was run over by a blue Renault Cleo in a vain attempt to save the woman, according to witnesses.
Raad Jiyad, a structural engineer who has lived in Chippenham Road for 10 years, says he was about to take his child to school, when he heard a woman screaming for help.
“I heard a woman’s voice saying, ‘Help, help, please help me.’ I came outside and I saw a black man with a knife and a white woman on the pavement,” he said.
Jiyad said he saw the man stabbing the woman: “I saw the knife very clear. I saw him stab her four to five times in the chest.”
He added: “I think he knew her. As he stabbed her he said, ‘Take it, take it’. He was going for this lady. She was about 24 or 25 and he was about the same age.”
Ryad added: “No one pulled him off because he scared everybody. He said, ‘Nobody come to me’. I tried to help but the guy scared me.”
The attack only ended when the man was forced off the woman by the driver of the Renault, who rammed his car into the attacker, trapping him beneath the wheels.
Ryad said: “A guy in a blue car came and tried to help the lady on the floor by using the car to push the guy off her with the car.”
Ryad added: “I could see him under the car. He was saying, ‘Please help’, but nobody went. He was trapped.”
He said he tried to help the woman after the attacker had been hit. “I took her hand. She was only just breathing. Her jacket was caught under the car. Many people tried to ask her name. But she didn’t say anything. It was horrible.”
The Metropolitan police confirmed that the woman was stabbed to death in Chippenham Road, and the man was killed after being hit by a car. Ambulance and fire crews also attended but both victims were pronounced dead.
Roads in the area were closed while police carried out “an urgent investigation”. Two double-decker buses were in the road when the attack happened.
Ryad said police arrived about 20 minutes after the attack began. He added: “It is a very quiet area. I can’t believe it happened here. There was no time to save her. I was very scared.”
DCI Neil Smithson said: “This morning an incredibly serious incident has unfolded in the Westminster area, which has seen two people pronounced dead. Our officers are on scene and are working to establish exactly what has happened.
“As soon as we have more information will keep the public updated but for now we must avoid speculation and allow investigators to do their work. What I can say at this time is that the incident is contained and we do not believe there to be any wider threat to the community.
“We have spoken to a number of people already, but anyone else who witnessed the incident, or who has information that could help us, is urged to make contact immediately.”
A spokesperson for the London ambulance service said: “We were called at 9.02am to reports of an incident on Chippenham Road, W9. We sent a number of resources to the scene, including two ambulance crews, two clinical team leaders, an advanced paramedic, two tactical response units, a medic in a car, an incident response officer, and members of our hazardous area response team.
“We also dispatched by road London’s air ambulance. Despite our medics’ efforts, two people died at the scene.”
