A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder by detectives investigating the deaths of two people in Maida Vale, west London. Earlier a woman was stabbed to death in a street by a man who was then run over and killed by a car. The Metropolitan police said it had launched an urgent investigation after the incident in Chippenham Road, Maida Vale, at about 9am on Monday. The force said it was not aware of any links between the arrested man, who police have confirmed was the driver of the car, and the two people who were dead, and added that it was not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. DCI Jim Eastwood of the Met’s specialist crime command said: “This was a terrible incident that occurred in broad daylight on a busy London street. It also appears that a number of members of the public bravely tried to intervene to stop the attack. “A man has been arrested in relation to the case. A team of detectives are working to establish the circumstances of the incident and I would ask the public to avoid speculating on what may have happened while these initial enquiries take place.” An eyewitness to the fatal knife attack said he saw a man repeatedly stab a woman in the chest as he shouted “take it, take it”. The attack only ended when the man was run over, according to bystanders. Raad Jiyad, a structural engineer who has lived in Chippenham Road for 10 years, said he was about to take his child to school when he heard a woman screaming for help. “I heard a woman’s voice saying: ‘Help, help, please help me.’ I came outside and I saw a black man with a knife and a white woman on the pavement,” he said. Jiyad said he saw the man stabbing the woman: “I saw the knife very clear. I saw him stab her four to five times in the chest.” He added: “I think he knew her. As he stabbed her he said: ‘Take it, take it’. He was going for this lady. She was about 24 or 25 and he was about the same age.” Jiyad added: “No one pulled him off because he scared everybody. He said: ‘Nobody come to me.’ I tried to help but the guy scared me.” The attack only came to an end when the man was run over and became trapped under the wheels of a car. Jiyad said: “I could see him under the car. He was saying: ‘Please help,’ but nobody went. He was trapped.” He said he tried to help the woman after the attacker had been hit. “I took her hand. She was only just breathing. Her jacket was caught under the car. Many people tried to ask her name. But she didn’t say anything. It was horrible.” The Metropolitan police confirmed that the woman was stabbed to death in Chippenham Road, and the man was killed after being hit by a car. Ambulance and fire crews also attended but both victims were pronounced dead. Roads in the area were closed while police carried out “an urgent investigation”. Two double-decker buses were in the road when the attack happened. Jiyad said police arrived about 20 minutes after the attack began. He added: “It is a very quiet area. I can’t believe it happened here. There was no time to save her. I was very scared.” A spokesperson for the London ambulance service said: “We were called at 9.02am to reports of an incident on Chippenham Road, W9. We sent a number of resources to the scene, including two ambulance crews, two clinical team leaders, an advanced paramedic, two tactical response units, a medic in a car, an incident response officer, and members of our hazardous area response team. “We also dispatched by road London’s air ambulance. Despite our medics’ efforts, two people died at the scene.” Any witnesses or anyone with any information can call police on 101 or contact via Twitter @MetCC quoting CAD 1496/24JAN. Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.