Hostages freed after siege at Coral shop

Police have confirmed four hostages that were being held inside a licensed betting office by a man with a firearm have been released.

The incident took place yesterday (Sunday) at a Coral facility in Jarrow, in north-east England, and began when police were called to the site at 17:46 GMT.

After the fourth person was released at 20:44, police arrested a 39-year-old man and seized a firearm.

According to the BBC, Northumbria Police said that shots heard during the siege were from a police-issued “less lethal weapon”, adding that nobody was injured during the incident.

Dame Vera Baird, Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria Police, added on her official Twitter account that the suspect told police he had a “sawn-off”, but was “arrested without police use of firearms”.

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