Crossbow man 'fired shot at police'
A man armed with a crossbow fired bolts and made threats to kill police before he was shot dead by marksmen, an eye-witness has said.
Armed officers were called to the rear of a terraced house in Cheapside, Shildon, County Durham, after bolts were randomly fired from a back window.
Some of them hit neighbouring houses and more than 20 yellow plastic evidence markers were visible in the street outside.
The man, in his late 40s, may have had a grudge with police after a recent arrest for drink-driving, one neighbour said.
Witness Richard Easton, 45, of Foundry Street, which has been cordoned off, heard the sound of a window cracking before armed police arrived. He believed it was a bolt from the crossbow which hit a neighbour's window.
He said: "I saw him fire it a couple of times. The police were trying to calm him down. They were shouting to him 'put the weapon down'."
Mr Easton, who was in the army for 13 years, said the man armed with a crossbow was singling out a particular officer by name who did not appear to be there at the time.
The witness said he was told to go back in his house when armed officers arrived and he later heard a shot being fired.
He believed officers did all they could to avoid the situation escalating. "They warned him plenty of times. They kept telling him to put the weapon down and come out."
Durham Police has referred the incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which investigates all such cases.
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