UPDATE:  8:05pm EDT – The suspect has been identified as Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old man who reportedly came from Uzbekistan in 2010. He was shot and wounded by a New York City police officer and has been taken into custody, authorities said at a press conference, Tuesday evening. Eight people have died, thus far, and at least 11 have been hospitalized with serious, but non-life threatening injuries, according to the New York Fire Department.

A driver of a truck reigned terror in Lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring several others in what Mayor Bill de Blasio called an “act of terrorism.”

The driver was in a rented Home Depot truck and started his path of destruction by driving the wrong way down a well-travelled bike path near the World Trade Center, striking cyclists and killing eight people. The driver then exited the vehicle and brandished firearms. He was subsequently shot by the NYPD. He is currently in custody and was taken to a nearby hospital. Sources say that the incident is being treated as a terror attack. Several witnesses recalled hearing the suspect yelling, “Allahu Akbar,” before he was apprehended. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is now in charge of the investigation. 

PopWrapped has an exclusive video and statement from Tsu founder, and entrepreneur, Sebastian Sobczak, depicting the terror that ensued.

“At 3pm, EST, Christian and I were crossing West Side Highway at Warren street, with our nanny, when the Home Depot truck intentionally t-boned a special education bus. The driver of the Home Depot truck got out with a gun and began heading south on West Side Highway, towards PS89, where we were, and where the the elementary school’s pickup was. We happened to be in the middle of the street. The driver was wearing a biker jacket with a red stripe across his chest. He was wearing a helmet as well, and he had a gun in his hand. Everyone evacuated PS89 up Warren Street to 450 North End and I went to the corner of North End and Chambers (one block north) to head off the gunman so he wouldn’t go around and get into the residential building holding all the kids. At that point, I saw the gunman on Chambers and West Side Hwy intersection with the gun, and I alerted police at Stuyvesant to go after him. I heard four gun shots. I turned on my phone video so I could look around the corner safely and see if it was okay to go help the shocked driver and the kids stuck in the t-boned bus. I immediately saw several kids stuck in the bus, trying to avoid gunfire, nobody helping them and when I went to try to get them out through the main bus door, I saw the horror that was the caved in side of the school bus with children trapped inside. There was one girl under the wheel well and I would like to know if she made it out okay. There are currently snipers on our rooftop and bomb sniffing dogs all around. My family is safe. What a horrific day.”

This is a developing story.

PopWrapped’s Zachary Jaydon contributed to this story.