Seaford gun seige: “I heard shouting and about four gun shots” says neighbour
Police officers were in North Way on Sunday
A GUNMAN remains in hospital after receiving life threatening injuries following a shoot-out with police in Seaford.
Shocked residents in North Way were woken by gunfire and helicopters during the incident which Sussex Police are treating as an attempted murder of police officers.
A 62-year-old was wounded after exchanging fire with armed officers shortly before 1am on Sunday following a five-hour stand-off with police.
Sussex Police said officers were called to a ‘domestic incident’ at about 7.10pm on Saturday. A woman left the house safely a short time later.
Resident Richard Amos said, “I heard most of it from about 1am.
“I heard shouting and about four gun shots.
“I knew there was something going on from about 7.30pm.
“I saw a woman come out at about 10pm. A man was swearing at police and telling them to go away. You wouldn’t expect this in Seaford.”
Another resident, Christopher Young said the area was generally a very quiet one, adding, “I heard a couple of cracks.
“My daughter made us aware that there was a lot of activity going on outside. It was a bit sinister with the police outside with automatic weapons.”
Sue Haren added, “The police were fantastic, they came around and told us what was going on.”
Some people who had gone out for the evening were not allowed to pass the cordons and had to spend the night at nearby Cradle Hill Community Primary School, which was used as a base for emergency services.
A shotgun was recovered from the scene of the incident which saw two police officers slightly injured, although not from gunshot wounds.
Chief Inspector Jason Tingley, police commander for the Lewes District, thanked staff at Cradle Hill School for their help and praised residents for their patience. He added, “Police really appreciate the patience of local residents bearing in mind police are still there. We are there to support them if they wish to speak to us. We have work to do at the scene but are doing this as soon as we can and we will make people aware of when we are leaving.”
Police were yesterday (Monday) guarding the scene and house to house enquiries were being carried out, along with reassurance visits from the local neighbourhood police team officers The man was last night in a medically-induced coma and his condition was described as stable .
The shooting is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
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Weather for Eastbourne
Monday 20 May 2013
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