Barcelona Van-Plowing Suspect Identified, Trump Condemns Terror Attack

Barcelona Van-Plowing Suspect Identified, Trump Condemns Terror Attack
Policemen check the identity of people standing with their hands up after a van ploughed into the crowd, killing two persons and injuring several others on the Rambla in Barcelona on August 17, 2017. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)
Reuters
8/17/2017
Updated:
8/17/2017

A van plowed into crowds in the Spanish city of Barcelona on Thursday and a regional official said 13 people were killed, in what police said they were treating as a terrorist attack.

Police in Barcelona have released a picture of the man who allegedly rented the van used in the attack.

Driss Oukabir, in his 20s, was born in Morocco, according to local media.  He was arrested a few hours after the attack.

 

(Barcelona Police)
(Barcelona Police)

Witnesses saying the van zigzagged down one of Barcelona’s busiest tourist avenues, Las Ramblas, mowing down pedestrians and leaving bodies strewn across the ground.

A government official in the region of Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, said on Twitter that at least 50 people were injured.

People stand with hands up as asked by policemen after a van ploughed into the crowd, killing two persons and injuring several others on the Rambla in Barcelona on August 17, 2017. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)
People stand with hands up as asked by policemen after a van ploughed into the crowd, killing two persons and injuring several others on the Rambla in Barcelona on August 17, 2017. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)
 

 

People react as they leave a cordoned off area after a van ploughed into the crowd, killing two persons and injuring several others on the Rambla in Barcelona on August 17, 2017. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)
People react as they leave a cordoned off area after a van ploughed into the crowd, killing two persons and injuring several others on the Rambla in Barcelona on August 17, 2017. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)

Eyewitness Tom Gueller told the BBC: “I heard screams and a bit of a crash and then I just saw the crowd parting and this van going full pelt down the middle of the Ramblas and I immediately knew that it was a terrorist attack or something like that.

“It wasn’t slowing down at all. It was just going straight through the middle of the crowds,” he added.

 Spanish media had also reported that two armed men were holed up in a bar in downtown Barcelona, and reported gunfire in the area, However, police later dismissed those reports.
 
People help an injured woman lying on the ground after a van crashed into pedestrians near the Las Ramblas avenue in central Barcelona, Spain August 17, 2017, in this still image from a video obtained from social media. Courtesy of Carlos Tena (Gallardo/via REUTERS)
People help an injured woman lying on the ground after a van crashed into pedestrians near the Las Ramblas avenue in central Barcelona, Spain August 17, 2017, in this still image from a video obtained from social media. Courtesy of Carlos Tena (Gallardo/via REUTERS)