The Birmingham Post 24/7/00 POLICE SHOOT GUNMAN By Richard Warburton and John Revill A man was shot by armed police near his Birmingham home last night after he confronted officers with a handgun. Officers were called to Rivington Crecent, Kingstanding at around 8pm following several reports of a woman being threatened by a man carrying a pistol. It is believed the man, described as in his early 30s, was waving a firearm in the air when armed officers found him in nearby Petersham Road. Police say he pointed the gun at the officers who issued a warning, before taking aim and firing in self defence. The unnamed man was taken to Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield, where last night he was undergoing surgery for serious injuries. Chief Insp Paul Anderson, of Park Lane police, said a team of officers were recovering evidence from the scene. He said: "Officers were called out at 8pm to a domestic incident in Petersham Road. A male was in possession of a firearm, thought to be a handgun, and because of fears to people's safety officers fired at him. "At this time we do not believe that his injures are life threatenting and he was taken by ambulance to Good Hope Hospital." Residents of Petersham Road and surrounding roads were shocked by the shooting. One man said: "I was just turning the TV on at around 8pm when I heard at least two gun shots coming from down the street. "I rushed outside and saw the road was full of police and there was one man lying on the ground, wailing in pain." Another witness said: "We were all taken by surprise. This sort of thing certainly doesn't happen around here and it has shaken everybody up. "We heard a lot of shouting and then some shots go off. There was a white guy wearing jeans lying on the floor outside his house and there seemed to be chaos going on. It resembled the streets of New York more than the streets of Kingstanding." Another resident said it raised concern over the level of violence in the area. "Something has got to be done. It is getting very rough around here. There have been other incidents around here in the past few weeks. "You cannot let the kids out any more with all the drugs and trouble. It is just too dangerous." A polcie cordon was placed at either end of Petersham Road. Families gathered outside their homes as a police helicopter circled overhead while six patrol cars blocked off the scene. The shooting was the latest in a series of crimes involving firearms in the West Midlands. Police launched a three-month gun amnesty a fortnight ago in response to a series of shootings in Birmingham including the murder of a man outside a Handsworth community centre. Senior officers have sought to dispel fears that the city is in the grip of an explosion of gun violence. In an interview last week, Chief Constable Mr Edward Crew told The Post armed criminality represented 0.003 per cent of recorded crime. He said: "It's confined generally to small groups of people, although working people in post offices, off-licenses and shops can be targeted. This is why we need to attack the problem so forcibly." The force's firearms operations unit can deploy three armed response units on the streets 24 hours a day. The unit responded to 2,538 calls between April 1 last year and March this year and on 292 occasions officers were authorised to deploy guns. This represented a 13 per cent increase in the number of emergency calls and a massive rise of 126 per cent in the number of authorised deployment of guns. Senior officers are reviewing the unit's operational deployment with the possibility of providing firearms expertise on a regional basis. -- And hopefully they won't mess up the current system, I personally think West Mids has got the best firearms unit outside of SO19, because instead of having lots of armed officers spread out, they have a small number of officers in one location. The advantage is that their training is better as there are only 81 officers in the unit. On the radio today they reported that the gun being waved about in this incident was a blank-firer. Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
