MAN WIELDING AXE IN STREET IS SHOT BY COPS
Witnesses tell of bloody scene
A 31-YEAR-OLD man “running around with an axe” in a city suburb was shot by police.
Witnesses at the scene, close to Hull city centre, said they heard loud gunshots and then saw a man on the floor, surrounded by police, with “blood gushing out of him”.
Humberside Police said they were called to the Holderness Road area of the city yesterday morning “following reports of concerns for the safety of the public in relation to a man” near a post office.
But witnesses said the shooting took place closer to the city centre, in an area cordoned off by police.
Witness Andre Foster said he was in a nearby building and saw the man after he had been shot by police.
He said: “We heard two big, loud bangs, gun sounds, we looked out the window, we saw this fella on the floor. Blood was gushing out of him.
“There were around six police around him, trying to stop him bleeding. I never saw an axe or anything, never saw a weapon.”
Liver
Mr Foster added: “It looked like he’d been Tasered. He had a big cut at the bottom, near his liver, and one at the top I think, and blood was just gushing out of him.”
He continued: “He was moving around, wriggling his body around like he was in agony.”
Another witness, who only gave her name as Rachel, said: “We heard two loud bangs and a man screaming, which made us all get up and see what was going on, and there was a man laid on the floor with quite a lot of blood loss and obviously it was all running down the path.”
She added that the man had what she believed to be four Taser marks – or “prongs” – in his back.
A man near the scene, who did not want to be named, said he believed the injured man was his cousin, who he said suffers from mental health issues and has problems with drugs.
He said: “All I’ve heard is one of my friends rang me and said, ‘Your cousin’s been running around with an axe and he’s been Tasered and they’ve shot him’. That’s all I know.
“I’m going to go and find out how he is now.”
There was a large police presence in the sealed off area and fire officers could be seen erecting large screens in a car park.
There also appeared to be a red and white screen in place outside a building.
Cordons
Office workers stood outside the building watching as police stood guard at the cordons.
A Humberside Police spokesman said: “The man, who cannot be named, is now receiving medical attention.
“An investigation is under way and the incident referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is standard practice in such incidents.
“We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident at this time.”