Two people killed in shooting at exclusive London store
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-14 07:47

A woman and a man died following a burst of gun fire in the unlikely surroundings of the perfume department in an exclusive London department store, Harvey Nichols, police and witnesses said.

Witnesses described how the man, aged in his 30s, had shot the woman, who was in her 20s, and then turned the gun on himself.

Police at Scotland Yard said they were not seeking anyone else in connection with the incident, which took place at about 7:45pm (1845 GMT) on the ground floor of the Knightsbridge store in west London.

"It appears the female sustained a gunshot wound or wounds first followed by the male," a spokeswoman told AFP, adding that both the victims were white.

A police spokesman said officers were trying to piece together what happened "but are not currently seeking anyone else in connection with the incident."

"We are currently making inquiries to establish their identities."

The Christmas window display at Harvey Nichols in London, December 2003. [AFP/file]

A 26-year-old woman, who worked at Harvey Nichols but did not give her name, said she had been waiting for the store to close so she could go home.

"Then bang, bang, bang -- four gunshots downstairs," she told Britain's domestic Press Association.

"A girl got shot. There were shoppers still walking around totally unaware," the shop assistant said.

"It was really scary. There was no announcement. We just heard people screaming and ran ... We were all terrified. We thought maybe it was a bomb."

Shopper Charlotte O'Leary said she had been told that an ex-security guard had shot a beauty counter worker before turning the gun on himself.

"The waitress we spoke to apparently had been informed by police and they said it was an ex-security guard who had walked into Harvey Nichols, shot dead one of the girls behind the makeup counter and then shot himself," she told BBC News.

The police spokeswoman said the area had been cordoned off as officers conducted their inquiries.

Harvey Nichols began life in 1813 as a small linen shop in a terraced house on the corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street in London and has developed into one of Britain's most recognised luxury brands.

The exclusive five-storey store located across the road from Hyde Park at the heart of the city's fashionable Knightsbridge area sells upmarket fashion, beauty and home products as well as gourmet food.

The first overseas branch opened in the Saudi capital Riyadh in 2000 and it also has another outlet in Hong Kong.

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