Chichester city centre in lockdownChichester city centre in lockdown
Chichester city centre in lockdown

Sussex high street in armed police lockdown due to incident

A high street in Sussex was in lockdown with armed police at the scene due to an incident.

According to Sussex Police, officers were called to North Street in Chichester at 9.42pm yesterday (April 23) after a man who had a knife threatened to harm himself. They were quickly joined by armed  police and specialist negotiators who spoke with the man for several hours. The incident was contained with police cars and a cordon was put up. Veronica Edwards was going on an evening walk when she came out of the Crooked S by Boots and stumbled upon the scene of the incident. She said: “One of the officers whistled at me and shouted ‘get over here now, get past my vehicle’. I removed my headphones and he said to keep walking. When I looked back I could see a man with some form of weapon in his hand.” She added: “I thought they were just doing checks due to the lockdown but when I could hear the urgency of it from how the male officer shouted, I felt panic and was extremely concerned.” At 1.20am today (April 24), the incident was brought to a safe conclusion, police said. A 45-year-old man from Chichester was detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act and passed into the care of health professionals. He was later arrested on suspicion of affray and possession of a knife in a public place. He was taken into custody where he remained at 8.50am today. A spokesman said there was no danger to the general public, but ‘thanked people for heeding requests to stay away from the area and apologised to the local community for the disruption caused as they dealt with the man’. If you are affected by any issues raised in this story, contact The Samaritans for confidential support on 116 123.