Man arrested after armed police surround Plymouth house in firearms drama

ARMED police were called to a house last night following reports of man with a gun.

Officers were called to a property in Plympton after police received reports of a young man apparently making threats with an air weapon, police said.

The area was cordoned off following the incident which began shortly before 7pm.

Police received a call from residents in St Maurice Road which alerted them to the incident.

Magdalen Gardens and St Stephens Road were both blocked off by PCSOs while the incident was dealt with.

Armed response officers and trained negotiators also attended the address.

Witnesses in the area said an ambulance was on stand-by in the quiet residential street as a clutch of people gathered to see what was going on.

Neighbours told how they saw a man pinned to the ground and handcuffed before being taken away by armed police last night.

Residents earlier witnessed a microwave and television set being thrown from the property in St Maurice Road, before shots were fired from what they believed was an air rifle.

Devon and Cornwall Police described it as a “domestic incident” and said no-one had been injured.

Officers were called to the terraced property just before 7pm and residents were evacuated from their homes and a cordon erected as police attempted to negotiate with the suspect.

Alex Guttridge, 20, said: “I had just come back from getting some food at 7.30pm when seven police cars turned up.

“I was at the top of the road just about to go into my house when the police started moving us away.

“They put a cordon up and asked us to leave. The next thing I know I heard bangs and shouting.”

Neighbour Bradley Warren, 19, said he saw a microwave and a TV set being thrown from the property into the garden.

He said: “We walked to a friend’s house, heard a bit of disturbance and three police cars whizzed past.

“We saw the man waving an air rifle, so we ducked. Then we saw riot police turn up and things were being thrown from the house.

“It didn’t seem like a real threat, but it is not the sort of thing you would expect.

“Police got everybody back, for safety. They kept everything in order.”

Nick Sheehan, 18, who watched the situation unfold, said he saw the suspect surrender peacefully after putting down a weapon.

He said: “A man walked out the house with the firearm in his hand, police told him to stay where he was and he put the firearm on the floor.

“(Police) took him out on to the road, they put him on his face, put a gun to his head and proceeded to arrest him.

“There were two shots fired (earlier in the evening), out of the middle of nowhere.”

Police confirmed a man was in custody and last night officers continued to search the property.

The cordon was lifted at about 11pm.

Just after 11pm police said one man had been taken into custody.

A 49 year old local man was arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

He remains in custody at Charles Cross Police Station awaiting interview.