A man in his 20’s has been arrested after walking around Littlemoor armed with a handgun.
Dorset Police received reports of a gunman at 2.31 pm today and a search was carried out with the assistance of the NPAS helicopter. A man was quickly arrested.
Witnesses report that the gunman was spotted near Westfields school.
It is believed the man arrested is a local resident.
Dorset Police statement:
“We would like to provide an update in relation to an incident that occurred in Weymouth earlier today:
Dorset Police received a report at 2.31 pm on Thursday 21 July 2022 that a man was possibly in possession of a handgun in Culliford Way in the Littlemoor area.
Officers, including armed response officers, attended and carried out searches of the area, assisted by the NPAS helicopter.
A local man aged in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He remains in police custody.
No weapon has been located at this time and an investigation is underway to establish the full circumstances.
We are aware of information circulating on social media in relation to the incident and would like to reassure the public that there were no shots fired and nobody was injured. There were no direct threats made to any members of the public.
While we received reports that the man was sighted near to a school in the area, no access was gained to the school. There was no risk to any pupils and therefore a decision was made that no evacuation was needed.
We understand this incident has caused concern with the local community and officers from the local neighbourhood policing team will be carrying out patrols in the area and can be approached by members of the public with anything they would like to discuss.”