A man has appeared to be firing a gun from a balcony in Chatham in Kent, armed police have responded to the incident
From a video posted on twitter, it appears that a man is firing a semi-automatic firearm down from his balcony in an apartment complex near a shopping centre in Chatham, Kent.
A local resident told Kent Online: “There was a lot of banging just over an hour ago, I just assumed it was construction workers.
“There was armed police outside The Range who waved everyone back, they moved towards the noise.
“Staff at The Range have been trying to catch everyone and get them into the shop.
“Someone across the way shouted about someone having a gun.
“There’s a police helicopter flying above.”
Kent Police Medway tweeted: “We are currently assisting Kent Police Tactical Operations with an incident at #Dockside in #Chatham.
“Numerous roads closures in place and therefore we kindly ask you to stay away from the area. Thank you for understanding in this matter.”
In a video posted to the social networking app Snapchat, the suspect appears to be filming himself firing a handgun from the balcony:
Kent Police have now confirmed that a man has been arrested on suspicion of firearms offences.
Officers have located four suspected imitation firearms and patrols remain at the scene.
Witness Sandra Pratt, who works at the Range shop nearby, told BBC Radio Kent she had heard the sound of gunshots.
“I heard a lot of shouting and what seemed like gunshot. I looked to my left and there was a guy up on the balcony with a rifle and a pistol.
“So I quickly ran into the shop and we called in any customers wandering by [who had] not realised what was going on and rung the police.”
