'A lot of blood, people on the ground': New Yorkers describe horror of truck attack

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Witnesses have told of the moments an attacker drove a ute down a busy bike path in New York, killing eight people. 

SBS News understands some students at a nearby high school filmed the fatal attack as they watched it unfold about 3pm local time on Halloween.

Students at Stuyvesant High School told SBS News they were advised to ‘take shelter,’ and some took to their phones to film the chaos unfold.

Elizabeth Chernobelsky, 17, said she was preparing for swim practice when she heard other students say they had heard gunshots.

“We had a lockdown for about three hours,” she said.

“They told us nobody could enter or leave and all students had to remain in classrooms.

“I was standing in front of a window and saw two body bags and all the police… I knew something very serious had happened right away.”

The attack suspect, identified in some media reports as Sayfullo Saipov, remains in hospital under police guard and is expected to survive. He was shot by a police officer after driving for “blocks and blocks” down the bike path, mowing down cyclists. 

The incident happened not far from the city’s financial district, a hot spot for tourists, as excited students were preparing to celebrate Halloween. 

Worried parents were seen gathering outside a public elementary school that had closed, waiting to see if they could collect children who stayed after the end of the classes for extracurricular lessons and activities.

Another student at Stuyvesant High School, Rosa, told SBS News she had been on her way to class but had stopped to get coffee at a nearby Wholefoods.

“I heard ‘there’s been a shooting! There’s been a shooting’,” she said.

“But being kind of a jaded New Yorker… and plus I had a mid-term [exam]… so I just went to class.”

Rosa said about 40 minutes after the attack a PA announcement advised students that a driver had tried to run over some people and she heard that gunshots that had been fired were intended to “kill the person” [the suspect].

“I couldn’t believe that it happened here again in New York, this time it’s just so close. It’s just completely shocking and I’m shaking,” she said.

‘A lot of blood, people on the ground’

Eugene, another witness not connected with the school, told ABC America that he saw the ute drive south along the bike path at full speed and hit several people.

He said bodies were lying outside Stuyvesant High School.

He also reported hearing about nine or 10 shots.

A video apparently filmed at the scene and circulated online showed scattered bikes on the bike path and two people lying on the ground.

Uber driver Chen Yi said he saw the vehicle plough into people on the bike path adjacent to the West Side Highway. He said he then heard seven to eight shots and then police pointing a gun at a man kneeling on the pavement.

“I saw a lot of blood over there. A lot of people on the ground,” Mr Yi said.

His passenger Dmitry Metlitsky said he also saw police standing near a man who was on his knees with his hands up, and another man bleeding on the ground nearby. He said the truck had also collided with a small school bus and one other vehicle.

“I didn’t see the actual shooting, but I got there about 30 seconds after,” said witness John Williams, 22, who was on his way to the park when the attack unfolded.

“There was a smell of gunshots…There was a man lying on the ground. It looked as [if] he’d been shot,” Mr Williams said.