A man who was allegedly carrying a handgun while fleeing the scene of a crash has been fatally shot by police.
The man, who has not been identified but is thought to be in his sixties, was one of the drivers believed to have been involved in a collision between a car and a van outside London Road Cemetery in Thetford, Norfolk, on Sunday night.
Neighbours reported hearing a woman screaming that a man had a gun shortly after the crash on the 30mph limit road at about 8.25pm.
The man is thought to have been fleeing on foot before he was shot dead by at least one armed Norfolk police officer beside the A11 dual carriageway just over half a mile away.
Police received reports of a two-vehicle collision and said: “It was reported that a man was seen leaving the collision holding what was described to be a handgun. When officers arrived, one of the cars, a Mercedes van, was badly damaged, the airbag had gone off, and the car was unoccupied.
“The other car, a Honda Jazz, was damaged on one side. The driver suffered minor injuries and declined medical treatment in hospital.
“Police received several reports from members of the public in the area that they had a seen a man carrying a black handgun on London Road heading towards Sainsbury’s.
“Armed response officers attended the southbound carriageway. The man was approached by police officers and a short time later shot by police from a short distance away. Despite the efforts of emergency services, he was pronounced dead at the scene.”
The road was still closed on Monday
EAST ANGLIA NEWS SERVICE
The force added that it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) “as is standard procedure in these circumstances”. The IOPC confirmed that “two shots were fired by police shortly before 9pm” and what appeared to be a non-police issue firearm had been recovered from the scene. It said that the man’s next of kin had been notified.
Witnesses believed that the man may have crossed a retail and business park before heading through woodland leading to the bypass.
Sarah Batista, who lives opposite the scene of the collision, said: “I was at home and heard a massive crash. We went upstairs to look out and saw that a car and a van had crashed. A horn was beeping constantly.
“My mother and brother heard a woman screaming and shouting out that someone had a gun. We didn’t know what to think. The police came very quickly and were looking over the vehicles.”
Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “We heard the crash. Afterwards, the road was lit up like a disco because there were so many blue lights from emergency vehicles.”
Forensic officers were seen on Monday morning gathering evidence on a cordoned section of the A11 where the man was believed to have been shot.
A man who had attended the scene soon after the shooting, said: “We came down an embankment and saw three armed response vehicles and three ambulances. The guy was lying down and you could hear someone saying that he had no pulse. I saw one armed policeman sitting there with his head in his hands. You could see the guns.”
Assistant Chief Constable David Buckley said: “We understand this incident will cause concern in the community. Our highly trained armed officers deploy to hundreds of firearms-related calls each year, but incidents where police discharge firearms are thankfully incredibly rare.
“A full and independent investigation is already under way. We are of course co-operating fully with the IOPC investigation and will be handing over all bodyworn footage and 999 calls to ensure transparency. We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.”
Thetford Ranges roundabout