LONDON — The police shot and killed a man wearing a fake bomb on London Bridge on Friday, after two people were fatally stabbed in what the police called a terrorist incident, jolting Britain’s capital two weeks before a general election and three days before world leaders were to gather here for a NATO summit meeting.
The chaotic eruption of violence drew in several police officers and civilians, sent scores of panicked pedestrians fleeing from the bridge and nearby streets on both sides of the Thames, and evoked memories of an eerily similar terrorist attack on the same bridge in 2017 that killed eight people.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who halted his campaign to rush back to 10 Downing Street, declared “this country will never be cowed or divided or intimidated by this sort of attack.” He paid tribute to the bravery of the passers-by who he said intervened to prevent further bloodshed.
Dramatic video posted on social media showed a crowd surrounding a man, whom they appeared to have tackled. As they wrestled with and held the man to the ground, at least three police officers responded with their guns drawn.
The police pulled the other people away from the man on the ground, and then an officer appeared to fire at least one shot, hitting the man and prompting screams from bystanders. The man died at the scene, the police said.
Government officials said the man had previously been convicted of an Islamist terrorism-related offense. He had been in prison and was released on condition that he wear an electronic tag, according to several reports. Early Saturday, the police identified the suspect as Usman Khan, 28, and said that no other suspect was being sought.
“It has been declared a terrorist incident,” said Neil Basu, the assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. “I must stress, however, that we retain an open mind as to any motive.”
There had been reports that the man was wearing an explosive device, Mr. Basu said, but the police determined that it was “a hoax explosive device” strapped to his body.
“What’s remarkable about the images we’ve seen is the breathtaking heroism of members of the public who literally ran toward danger, not knowing what confronted them,” said Mayor Sadiq Khan of London. It was not clear if the passers-by saw the phony device and decided to tackle the man anyway.
On Friday evening, the police reported that two people died after being stabbed, and that three others had been injured.
The Metropolitan Police said that around 2 p.m., they responded to reports of a knife attack in Fishmongers’ Hall, a grand Greek Revival building that sits just at the north end of London Bridge and is often used for events. On Friday, a criminal justice group whose members are former Cambridge University academics was meeting there.
A woman who said she was in the hall described an almost surreal scene, posting on Twitter that after the attack began, another man grabbed a five-foot-long narwhal tusk from the wall and used it to confront the attacker.
Later, on the bridge, as the crowd was trying to subdue the assailant, bystanders captured images of a man standing with a long white pole, which the woman in the hall, Amy Coop, said was the narwhal tusk.
Video captured by bystanders also showed another man, in a suit and tie, appearing to grab a knife and retreat as the police approached.
The police have made no further arrests, and it has been widely reported that the man who picked up the knife was involved in trying to end the attack.
Police vehicles blocked both sides of the roadway on London Bridge, which is one of the city’s busiest arteries and a popular crossing for tourists and other pedestrians.
As the police cordoned off the area, empty buses and abandoned vehicles remained parked on the bridge. In the nearby Borough Market, a food and drink space popular with tourists, visitors were told to shelter in place, before eventually being evacuated.
Mr. Johnson, speaking before an emergency security meeting on Friday night, said it was a “mistake to allow serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early and it is very important that we get out of that habit and that we enforce the appropriate sentences for dangerous criminals, especially for terrorists.”
Earlier this month, the British government downgraded the national terrorism threat level to substantial from severe for the first time since 2014. A substantial threat still means that authorities regard an attack as likely, but that decision may come under fresh scrutiny in the context of an election campaign.
The episode bore a disquieting similarity to the 2017 attack on the bridge, in which a van careered onto the sidewalk, mowing down pedestrians, before three attackers leaped from the vehicle and struck people with knives. They killed eight people before being killed by the police. Those men were also wearing fake suicide vests.
Earlier that year, a car plowed into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge. Six people, including the attacker, were killed.
The 2017 London Bridge attack, which was carried out by three assailants inspired by the Islamic State, came in the final weeks of Britain’s last election, and it rapidly became a political issue. The Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, accused the prime minister at the time, Theresa May, of cutting the number of police officers in Britain.
Mrs. May’s Conservative Party, which had begun the campaign with a robust lead in the polls, saw its edge steadily evaporate, and Mrs. May ended up losing her parliamentary majority.
London has become accustomed to terrorist attacks, and its residents pride themselves on keeping their cool. On Friday evening, pubs across the city filled up with their usual after-work crowds. But the attack left the city uneasy because so many details about the assailant remain unknown.
It also came only days before President Trump and other leaders are scheduled to visit the city for a NATO summit meeting. On Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth II plans to hold a reception marking the alliance’s 70th anniversary at Buckingham Palace.
After the 2017 attack, Mr. Trump criticized Mr. Khan for what the president falsely claimed was the mayor’s lackadaisical response. Mr. Khan called on the government to cancel Mr. Trump’s state visit later that year.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Khan said, “We must — and we will — stay resolute in our determination to stand strong and united in the face of terror. Those who seek to attack us and divide us will never succeed.”
The attack, which happened on a sunny Friday afternoon, unfolded with an air of unreality.
John McManus, a BBC reporter who was crossing the bridge at the time of the incident, told the news outlet he had seen a group of men involved in a fight with another man on the bridge. The police then arrived, and “a number of shots were fired at this man.”
Matthew Marchand, 37, whose office faces the bridge, said it was “scary to think that this happens on your doorstep somehow.”
“It puts you back on edge,” Mr. Marchand said. “Every single attack makes you feel a little worse about safety.”
He said he was surprised that such an episode could happen despite the safety measures put in place after previous terrorist attacks. “But it must have unfolded so quickly. What can you do about it?” he said.
Mr. Johnson issued a statement thanking the police and emergency services for their “immediate response” and said he was being kept updated. He told the BBC he had suspended his campaigning on Friday and would decide over the next few hours when to return to the trail.
Mr. Corbyn also halted his campaign. “We must remain united across all our communities and we cannot let our democratic process be derailed by acts of terror,” he said in a statement.
Those in the area around London Bridge described the panic in the moments after the attack. Noa Bodner, who was stuck in a restaurant near London Bridge, told BBC News that those sheltering inside had been told to keep away from the windows.
“There was a rush of people coming in, and everybody basically dived under the tables,” she said. The manager ran to lock the doors, and employees told people to move away from the front of the restaurant.
Susan Vinn, 57, said that she had been outside her office shortly after 2 p.m., when she saw people running across the bridge and into her office lobby.
“It’s horrible,” she said of the attacks that have rattled London in recent years. “We know it’s going to happen again, we just don’t know when, so that keeps us worried for sure.”
Elian Peltier contributed reporting from London and Michael Dailey from New York.
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