Flats siege man shot dead by police
A pensioner holding his wife hostage at gunpoint has been shot dead by police marksmen, residents have said.
Armed response vehicles and police dog handlers raced to the village of Fernhurst, in West Sussex, shortly before lunchtime on Friday.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was investigating the fatal shooting of a man after the incident was referred by Sussex Police.
Neighbours said they surrounded a block of retirement flats in a street called The Leys. They said there were reports that the man, in his 60s, was depressed.
One eyewitness said officers used a loud hailer to encourage the man to leave the flat before the fatal shot was fired.
Another said she heard a policewoman shout "we have stunned him, get an ambulance" during the confrontation.
The woman added that a neighbour told her: "It was a chap sitting in his flat with a gun to his wife."
A drinker at the Duke of Cumberland pub in the village said police had been called to a hostage situation. The man, who declined to be named, said: "I was told there was a hostage situation and it was an elderly man with an ill wife. Apparently he was armed and would not let anyone come near."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said an investigation had been launched and officials were at the scene.
A spokeswoman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission said: "The IPCC is to independently investigate the fatal shooting of a man in Fernhurst, near Midhurst, in West Sussex on Friday afternoon. At approximately 3pm Sussex Police referred the incident to the IPCC. IPCC investigators have been deployed to the scene to start the inquiry."
