Gunman takes two staff hostage at bowling alley
A RETAIL park in Nuneaton was in lockdown for several hours after two members of staff were taken hostage by an armed man believed to be the expartner of an employee at a bowling alley there.
A suspect was taken to hospital and two men, understood to be hostages, were released unharmed after police used stun grenades to storm the alley shortly before 7pm yesterday.
Warwickshire Police said a man had been arrested and was in custody.
Police have said they believe the incident was “unconnected to any terrorist activity”, and the CEO of the bowling company, MFA Bowl, told Sky News that he thought the man, reportedly armed with a shotgun, was the ex-husband or ex-partner of a staff member.
Interviewed while the incident was still under way, Mehdi Afshar said: “We believe from what my manager tells me that he is an ex-husband or a boyfriend of a member of staff. That is what I know, I can’t confirm that for definite.”
He said everyone, including all customers, had left the premises “in safety” with the exception of the two members of staff. One of the hostages was a 17-year-old who had only started work at the bowling alley earlier this year. A family member said the teenager was “very shook-up” and had been checked over by a paramedic.
Witnesses said the alley was evacuated shortly after lunchtime when an “aggressive” man in his 40s approached them waving a gun. Will Lang, the bowling alley’s service engineer, said: “I was down the back of the machines at about 1pm when suddenly they all stopped. That was a surprise and I thought something must have gone wrong.
“I made my way to the reception area to ask colleagues what was going on.
“All of a sudden a guy came around from the bar waving the gun like a maniac. I just froze, but he told me straight away to ‘f--- off ’.”
The gunman was described by one witness in the bowling alley as an unshaven man in his 40s, who was “basically shouting and had a very aggressive demeanour about him”.
Lawrence Hallett, who had been at a family children’s party at the alley, told Sky News: “One of the staff came up to us and quietly whispered in my ear to leave and I initially thought it was a fire alarm or something like that and I said ‘What’s the problem? We are half way through a game,’ and he said ‘There is a gunman’.”
Witnesses also said the gunman appeared “weird-looking” and shouted “game over” as he approached families bowling in the complex. Marcus Jones, MP for Nuneaton, told Sky News during the siege: “I think this is an extremely concerning situation. But I have every confidence that Warwickshire Police are capable and are able to deal with what looks like a very difficult situation.” Alex Franklin-smith, Warwickshire Police chief superintendent, said: “We would like to thank local people for their patience and co-operation while officers dealt with this incident. We are pleased that we were able to bring this incident to a peaceful resolution and that there were no injuries. I would like to reassure the community that the incident is unconnected to any terrorist activity.”
West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was called to the incident at 3.40pm.