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At least one person was killed and 16 others were injured when a vehicle crashed into an Apple store in Massachusetts, local officials say.

The incident happened at around 10:45 local time (15:45 GMT) on Monday in Hingham, about 13 miles (20 km) south of Boston.

The driver of the car has been arrested and charged with reckless homicide by motor vehicle, police said.

Images from the scene show a gaping hole in the store's glass front.

Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said the driver of the car, 53-year-old Bradley Rein, was scheduled to appear in court.The area in front of the store - part of a local shopping plaza - was cordoned off by emergency personnel.

"The dark colour SUV went through at a rate of speed undetermined through a glass window and struck multiple people," police chief Dave Jones told reporters on Monday.

It is unclear how many people were in the store at the time, though officials noted it happened just days before Thanksgiving in the US and during a busy holiday shopping season.

Bystanders helped treat some of the victims at the scene, officials said.

Hospital officials said some of the people brought in were severely hurt, a few with life-threatening injuries and some who could lose limbs.

The dead man was named as Kevin Bradley, 65, from New Jersey.

In a statement quoted by Reuters, Apple described him as "a professional who was onsite supporting recent construction".

Frank O'Brien, who was shopping nearby at time, told the Patriot-Ledger that the vehicle must have been travelling quickly to end up where it did.

"You'd have to really be picking up speed to end up in the storage area at the back side of the Apple store," he said.

Witnesses, meanwhile, described the breaking glass as sounding like "an explosion".