Oxford Street: What happened? All we know so far about the incident
'I was next to the tube station and everyone started screaming and shouting and then a flood of people came up the stairs'
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Your support makes all the difference.Shortly after 4:30pm officers were called to the Oxford Circus Tube Station following “reports of shots fired”, British Transport Police Tweeted.
Footage of people running above ground on Oxford Street quickly appeared on social media as people fled the scene.
Greg Owen, 37, from London, said: "I was next to the tube station and everyone started screaming and shouting and then a flood of people came up the stairs."
As officers arrived the scene they urged anyone in the area, which would have been packed with rush hour commuters, to "go into a building".
Video posted to Twitter showed police shouting "get inside somewhere" as they escorted people away from the area.
Transport for London said the station was closed while they investigated “a customer incident” although trains continued to run through the station, but they did not stop to let passengers off. It was a similar story one stop down the Central Line at Bond Street Station.
Buses were also stopped and stacked along the side of the road and The London Palladium on Argyll Street, which is due to host the Royal Variety Performance later, was in lock-down.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were set to attend but it is unclear whether they will be able to do so.
London Fire Brigade said three fire engines and 15 firefighters at the scene.
Amid the panic a number of witnesses reported hearing “gunshots” including one woman named Maaiysa, a journalist for TRT.
She added that she heard screams and sirens from her office near Oxford Circus, and posted video of people running away from the station.
"Never seen such panic. People flooded into our offices, looking for shelter, shaking," she wrote.
Others then picked up on the rumours, which quickly spread across social media.
But around 90 minutes after responding, police said there was no evidence of any shots, casualties or suspects.
In a statement Scotland Yard said: "Given the nature of the information received, the Met responded in line with our existing operation as if the incident was terrorism, including the deployment of armed officers.
"Officers working with colleagues from British Transport Police carried out an urgent search of the area. No causalities, evidence of any shots fired or any suspects were located by police."
Passengers fled the station on to Oxford Circus and Regent Street causing a minor injury to one woman. Aside from that there were no reported injuries.
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