A woman was shot by police Thursday evening “during an ongoing counterterrorism investigation,” according to London’s Metropolitan Police.
A police statement said the incident occurred as armed officers entered a building in Willesden, in the city’s north-west.
Witness Sean Rahilly said he was at St Mary Magdalen Church when he heard gun shots just before 7 p.m. local time. “Everyone outside the church was confused (about) what was happening. Within one minute of the gun shots armed police showed up,” he said.
Police said the incident wasn’t related to an earlier arrest near the British parliament, where officers detained a man armed with knives on suspicion of planning a terror attack.
The injured woman, who is in her 20s, was taken to the hospital, where she remains under police guard. She has not yet been arrested, due to her condition.
Police said three people were arrested in and around the building, and later a woman was arrested in the south-east county of Kent.
All four were arrested for alleged terrorism-related offenses.
In the earlier incident, armed officers from the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command unit arrested a 27-year-old man, a few meters from the scene of a terror attack last month that left four people and the attacker dead.
Witnesses said the man was pinned to the ground on Parliament Street, within sight of the Houses of Parliament and an array of British government buildings.
Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister, is a few minutes’ walk away. Prime Minister Theresa May was not at the premises during the arrest, her office told CNN.
Forensics officers examined the scene outside the London Underground station at Westminster and recovered the suspect’s backpack and at least two knives.
“He was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism,” said a statement from Scotland Yard.
The recent incidents have triggered heightened security in the UK.