Police have one suspect in custody.
At least 13 people are dead and dozens more are injured after a van plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in the popular tourist area of Las Ramblas in Barcelona Thursday. The driver of the vehicle initially fled the scene; police have now taken at least one suspect into custody. Local police are “treating him as a terrorist, ” the force said on Twitter.
Joaquim Forn, Catalonia’s interior minister, told reporters, “Unfortunately the number of fatalities will likely rise.”
“I saw people flying into the air and everyone was running into the shops on either side, ” one witness told CNN .
Las Ramblas is one of the city’s most popular areas, for both tourists and locals. Typically lined with street performers and shoppers, the pedestrian mall turned chaotic just after 4 p.m. local time.
“It was quite terrifying. All of a sudden scores of people ran towards us, hysterical, children hysterical… first of all they said someone had been shot, ” one witness told Sky News. “All of a sudden a second wave of people came down the street, we just ran, I lost my husband in the melee. The shops went into lockdown mode.”
Police have identified Driss Oukabir as the man who allegedly rented the van used in the attack some 15 miles north of the city. It’s unclear if he was involved in the attack.
In a tweet, Spain’s prime minister Mariano Rajoy Brey said, “The terrorists will never defeat a united people who love freedom from barbarism. All Spain is with the victims and families.”
President Trump offered U. S. assistance to Spain in a tweet.
