A man was arrested early Tuesday on the suspicion of murder after three people were found dead in the city of Nottingham, in central England, in an apparent series of attacks that the police described as linked and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain called a “shocking incident.”

Details were few, but the police said they were first alerted just after 4 a.m. about two of the deaths. They were then called to a nearby street in the city center, where three other people were found wounded after a driver attempted to run them over with a van, according to a statement by the Nottinghamshire Police. They also said that a man was found dead in a third street.

A 31-year-old man was arrested in connection with the deaths, and the three other people were receiving treatment in a hospital, the statement said.

“This is an horrific and tragic incident which has claimed the lives of three people,” said Chief Constable Kate Meynell, of the Nottinghamshire Police, in a statement, adding that she believed the “incidents are all linked.”

From the early morning and into Tuesday afternoon, several main roads had been closed and Nottingham’s tram service had been partly suspended.

As of Tuesday afternoon, authorities had not given any indication that the alarming succession of violence was connected to terrorism, with the police saying only that their investigation was still in its “early stages.”

“It is too early to comment on casualties or the exact nature of the incident,” the regional ambulance service said in a statement posted to Facebook. It added that emergency teams were working alongside the police with a “well-rehearsed” response.

“The police must be given the time to undertake their work,” Mr. Sunak wrote in a Twitter post. “My thoughts are with those injured, and the family and loved ones of those who have lost their lives.”