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What started out as an ordinary Saturday night for London Metropolitan Police officer Jim Cole turned into the "most challenging, most intense" of his career when he was called to an incident on London Bridge.
The 41-year-old Southwark Safer Neighbourhoods officer was getting ready to finish his shift and go home to his family when the call came in just after 10:00pm (local time) on June 3.
"My colleague had been listening to the police radio channel and he came running in to tell me a van had ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge," Inspector Cole said.
"I instantly knew it was serious and I feared the worst."
He said every available police car was filled with police officers and they rushed to London Bridge.
"It was all hands to the pump, it was like something out of a Battle of Britain film," he said.
Police radio reported at least three men attacking people with knives and shooting started just behind them, but the officers were not sure what to expect when they arrived near Borough Market.
"When we got there, there were a number of armed officers and there were casualties on the pavements," Inspector Cole said.
"We had no idea what was going on, we didn't know if it was us shooting or if the bad guys had guns."
His first priority was to help the injured and keep the terrified public safe.
Inspector Cole spotted a pub near Borough Market to use as a shelter and started ushering people to safety.
"I ... saw a few injured people who were bleeding — including a man who had been stabbed in the stomach — and we got them to safety in the pub," he said.
"I then heard more shouting and a stream of people came out of the market screaming and panicking. I got them to go into the pub's basement as a place of hard cover."
Inspector Cole said it felt like only been a few moments, but it was about 15 minutes later, when he got news the immediate threat had been dealt with.
"I spoke with the 200 frightened people in the basement and told them that there were armed officers outside, we were safe and we would evacuate them as soon as we could — and I got a big round of applause," he said.
Seven people were killed in the attack, when three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before getting out in Borough Market and stabbing people with knives.
Two Australian women — 21-year-old Sara Zelanak and 28-year-old Kirsty Boden — were among those killed. Two other Australians were injured.
The 18-year Met Police veteran said he went into autopilot while responding to the attacks but the magnitude of the tragedy hit him the following morning.
"It all feels very surreal, it almost feels like it isn't real," he said.
Inspector Cole said it was the "most challenging, most intense" incident he had dealt with in his career.
"I've dealt with a lot of death and I've been to some pretty horrific scenes in my career, but nothing has ever been on that scale," he said.
"It's going to stick with me for a long time."
Topics: police, terrorism, community-and-society, law-crime-and-justice, england, united-kingdom