Security guard held after Liverpool attacks
Cinema, private house and newsagent allegedly targeted by lone man who discharged a shotgun
‘I was terrified for the kids. The girl on the [cinema] desk was in shock as she saw the guy firing [it]'
A SECURITY guard with a military background has been arrested after a man opened fire at a cinema, a house and a newsagents in a series of shootings in Liverpool.
Armed officers arrested 49-year-old Leslie Garrett at a property in Fazakerley in the early hours of yesterday morning in connection with the attacks, police said.
Asst Chief Constable Jenn Wilson declared a major incident and said that it was the first time the force had “had to deal with something of this nature on the streets of Merseyside”.
Neighbours said Mr Garrett had previously worked as a security guard at the cinema in question, although neither Merseyside Police nor Showcase
Cinemas confirmed this. No one was injured in the shootings, but children were terrified when a busy cinema complex was put into lockdown after two staff members were threatened by the gunman.
The man, who was arrested on suspicion of possession of a Section 1 firearm with intent to endanger life and robbery, was taken to a police station on Merseyside. He remains in custody.
The shootings began at 8pm on Wednesday, when police were called to the News and Booze store, known as Sangha's, on Lower House Lane, Norris Green, after reports that a man had threatened a shop worker, demanded money and opened fire.
CCTV footage shows a man wearing a green, hooded jacket and flip-flops looking along the barrel of a gun and firing a single shot before walking out empty-handed.
The shop assistant was not injured but was left “extremely distressed” by the ordeal, police said.
Fifty minutes later, police received reports of shots being fired at the nearby Showcase Cinema in Stonedale Retail Park, East Lancashire Road, Croxteth.
A man armed with a gun was reported to have threatened two members of staff in the foyer and fired a number of shots into the air outside before escaping in a car.
When footage of the gunman inside the shop emerged, locals speculated that the firearm could be a L1A1 self-loading rifle, though witnesses at the cinema described seeing a shotgun.
The suspect had apparently been working in security and has served in the Armed Forces.
Craig Moorhead was leaving the cinema after watching Wonka with his 14-year-old daughter and her friend when armed police entered the building and ordered a lockdown.
Mr Moorhead, of Walton, said he was “terrified” and that staff were in shock after seeing the gunman.
He told BBC Radio Merseyside: “As we came out, we heard all these sirens and the armed response units said we all had to go back inside. I was terrified for the kids – the young girl on the desk was in shock as she saw the guy firing the gun outside.”
Mr Moorhead said police had escorted small groups to their cars after keeping them in the cinema for 45 minutes.
A spokesman for Showcase Cinemas thanked police for their swift response, and said it was helping officers with their investigation.
Further reports of gunshots at a property in Malpas Road, Croxteth, were made at about 10.20pm.
At 4.46am, armed officers raided a property in Ternhall Road, Fazakerley, and arrested a man after subduing him with a Taser.
Later officers using a low loader took away a grey Ford Focus hatchback which had been parked outside the bungalow. A similar-looking vehicle featured on Mr Garrett's Facebook page last year, captioned: “Working and living in my car for nearly 4 weeks.”
A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said she heard officers arriving at the property in the early hours of the morning. “I heard a lot of commotion,” she said. “There were lots of police, and some with dogs. “It was quite scary.”
Another neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: “The man was ex-forces and ex-security.”
Assistant Chief Constable Wilson said in a statement: “I can report that a 49-year-old man has been arrested following three firearms discharges in the Croxteth and Norris Green areas last night. Thankfully incidents like this, involving a single offender in three separate shootings in close proximity and quick succession, are extremely rare, and this is the first time we have had to deal with an incident of this nature on the streets of Merseyside.”
He added: “The shocking and distressing impact these incidents will have had on the shop assistant, the staff at the Showcase Cinema and those filmgoers who found themselves in a lockdown situation in the complex after shots were fired outside the cinema, and the residents of Malpas Road, cannot be underestimated."