‘Gunman’ drama: eyewitness speaks out
Cumbernauld police station
AN EYEWITNESS has spoken of the drama that surrounded the ‘armed man’ at Cumbernauld Police Station on Sunday night.
The station and the surrounding buildings, including pubs and fast food outlets, went into lock down as police cars and an armed response unit flooded the scene.
The incident took place at around 10.30pm on Sunday.
Onlookers were left in suspense for almost two hours before a man was removed from the front of the premises and placed under arrest at 12.10am on Monday.
One eye-witness, who asked not to be identified, told us: “There were police everywhere – loads of cars and officers. The whole place was sealed off.
“You could see someone standing in the main foyer of the station holding something in his hand.
“At first there were all these rumours going round that someone had been shot somewhere in the town centre because there was a police helicopter circling the town.
“But then we realised that was wrong.
“There were people up on the footbridges watching it all and we didn’t really know what was going on, but then a man was taken out the front door of the police station and was taken round the back.”
A spokesperson for Strathclyde Police confirmed the incident and said: “At approximately 10.30pm a man armed with what appeared to be a shotgun entered Cumbernauld Police Office.
“Armed police officers attended and entered into a dialogue with the man.
“At approximately 12.10am the man surrendered himself. No persons were injured and the 53-year-old man was taken into custody.”
News of the event spread in minutes as residents turned to social networking sites to talk about what was going on, and until yesterday (Tuesday) Cumbernauld was a trending topic on Twitter.
As the News went to press yesterday, a 53-year-old man was expected to appear in private at Airdrie Sheriff Cour, in connection with the incident.
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Weather for Cumbernauld
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
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