A murder investigation has been launched after a 12-year-old boy was killed when a car mounted the pavement outside a secondary school in Essex, hitting “mutiple” other children.

Police were called to the scene of the incident near Debden High School in Loughton at around 3:30 PM on Monday. The boy’s death was confirmed by police at around 7:15 PM. Emergency services and police are still at the scene after a car reportedly ran off the road and onto the pavement.

In Loughton – been shocking incident bit earlier with schoolchildren injured when car mounted pavement. Huge police presence still on scene. pic.twitter.com/lQejaEgA9M

— Andy Lines (@andylines) December 2, 2019

Essex Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit Inspector Rob Brettell appealed to the public to provide any dashcam or CCTV footage they have of the area.

“This is likely to be a prolonged and serious investigation we urgently need the public’s assistance,” he said.

We have launched a murder investigation following a fatal collision in #Loughton earlier today, Monday 2 December.

A 12-year-old boy has sadly died.

Anyone with information is asked to call us on 101 and quote incident number 726 of Monday 2 December. https://t.co/3rbpyRaidr

— Essex Police (@EssexPoliceUK) December 2, 2019

Police initially described the situation as “fast moving” but urged the public “not to speculate” on the circumstances or people involved. “We must make sure our updates are accurate,” police wrote on Twitter.

Willingale Road, where the collision occurred, has been completely closed to the public in both directions and authorities are warning people to avoid the area.

One witness told Essex Live that a Ford Ka drove onto the path, hitting multiple children, before driving off down the road. “It was awful to witness. Everyone is in shock,” one father told the outlet.

Source: rt