LONDON: A 49-year-old man caught on CCTV footage shooting inside an Indian-owned shop in Liverpool before two further shootings in the north-west England city is in police custody on Friday.
Merseyside Police said they were called to the News and Booze store, known locally as Sangha Newsagents, in the Norris Green area of Liverpool to reports that a man had entered the shop and threatened the store assistant, demanding cash before firing a gun and leaving the store empty-handed on Wednesday evening.
The assistant at the shop, whose director is listed with UK Companies House as Indian national Harjoodh Kular, was not injured during the incident but said to be extremely distressed by the ordeal.
The police were then called to two further shooting incidents in Liverpool on the same evening.
"I can report that a 49-year-old man has been arrested following three firearms discharges in the Croxteth and Norris Green areas," said Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenn Wilson.
"Thankfully incidents like this, involving a single offender in three separate shootings in close proximity and quick succession, are extremely rare and this is the first time we have had to deal with an incident of this nature on the streets of Merseyside," she said.
According to the police force, the second call they received was to report that shots had been fired outside the Showcase Cinema on Stonedale retail park in the Croxteth area of the city.
It was reported that a man armed with a gun entered the cinema complex and threatened two members of staff in the foyer, before leaving.
When he got outside he fired a number of shots in the air before escaping in a car.
At the time of the incident, the majority of people in the cinema were watching film screenings within the complex and they became aware of the incident when officers arrived at the scene and the complex was put into lockdown, the police said.
Stonedale retail park and all shops within the area were closed while officers conducted investigations.
A few hours later, the police were called to another incident of gun shots at a property on Malpas Road.
No serious injuries were reported during these three separate incidents.
"The shocking and distressing impact these incidents will have had on the shop assistant, the staff at the Showcase Cinema and those filmgoers who found themselves in a lockdown situation in the complex after shots were fired outside the cinema and the residents of Malpas Road cannot be underestimated," said Wilson.
"Officers were on the ground immediately following the first incident and were able to respond swiftly to the subsequent discharges, and a male was identified, located and arrested on suspicion of all three discharges within nine hours. High visibility patrols will remain in the area to reassure members of the local community," she added.
The police said that immediately after the first incident report, armed response officers joined detectives and other specialists along with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and North West Ambulance Service to the areas impacted to "provide reassurance and to identify and arrest the person responsible".
The armed response officers arrested the suspect from a property at Fazakerley area of the city in the early hours of Thursday and had to deploy a Taser gun as he got aggressive.
The man was arrested on suspicion of possession of a Section 1 firearm with intent to endanger life and robbery and was taken to a police station in Merseyside, where he remains in custody.
The police force is appealing for information from the community to assist with their ongoing investigation.