Liverpool shooting: man arrested by armed police after firing shots at three locations including cinema

Merseyside Police have arrested a 49-year-old man after he fired shots from a gun at three locations in Liverpool, including a cinema multiplex.

The man was arrested by armed response officers in Fazakerley on Wednesday night (January 3) on suspicion of possession of a Section 1 firearm with intent to endanger life and robbery. It comes after police received reports of gunshots from a local shop, the cinema complex and later a nearby property.

Assistant Chief Constable Jenn Wilson said: “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.”

Officer were called to the store News and Booze on Lower House Lane in Norris Green after receiving a report that a man had entered the shop at around 8pm, threatened the shop staff for money before firing his gun and fleeing the scene empty-handed. The shop assistant was not injured but is said to have been very shaken.

Around 50 minutes later, the force received a call regarding shots fire outside the Showcase Cinema in Stonedale Retail Park in Croxteth, which is now currently close as police continue investigations. The man is reported to have entered the foyer and threatened two members of staff, before letting of shots into the air outside and fleeing in the scene in a car.

Further gunshots were heard at a property in Malpas Road at around 10.20pm. Assistant Chief Constable Wilson 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.

"Officers were on the ground immediately following the first incident and were able to respond swiftly to the subsequent discharges, and a male was identified, located and arrested on suspicion of all three discharges within 13 hours. High-visibility patrols will remain in the area to reassure members of the local community. Firearms have no place on our streets and we are committed to arresting those involved in gun crime and taking firearms off our streets.”