Police called to gunshots find children firing foam ‘bullets’

POLICE called to reports of gunshots in a quiet village arrived to find children playing with toy weapons at an eight-year-old boy’s birthday party.

Officers were deployed to a home in Yaxham, Norfolk, after a concerned neighbour reported the sound of children screaming and “bangs”.

When they arrived, they found Oliver Green and his friends celebrating his birthday by shooting brightly coloured, soft foam bullets. Police later joined in the celebrations and posed for photos with the children.

Lisa Green, 47, Oliver’s mother, said: “I was in the kitchen making tea with some of the mums when one of them suddenly said, ‘Lisa, you have a squad car pulled up in your driveway’.”

“I immediately thought, ‘Oh my goodness, someone has complained’. I approached the officer and asked if there was a problem and they said they had been called following reports of machine-guns going off in my garden.

“I told them that there were some guns, but they were only toys.”

Action-loving Oliver had 18 friends at his home on Saturday playing with the Nerf guns – toys that fire foam darts, discs or balls.

The kids were fascinated when police played along and answered questions about what it was like to be an officer.

Lisa and her husband, Jonathan, 43, who both work for a fundraising business, were delighted that the police made Oliver’s party one to remember.

She said: “The kids loved it, they were asking if they were real police officers and they stayed for a little while to talk to them. They didn’t make a big deal about it at all. We made sure not to let off too many bangs after that just so that no one else would feel concerned.”