Man suspected of possessing a gun arrested in Leeds city centre

An update from last night’s events


The scene from last night has only just been closed after the police found no evidence of a firearm after searching the Sainsbury’s store in Headrow.

After a number of calls were made last night by members of the public reporting that a man was thought to be in possession of a firearm, officers arrived at The Headrow at 9:40 pm last night (7th February).

The 25-year-old Leeds resident was arrested but no firearm was found. He is in custody and is set to undertake a mental health assessment sometime today.

Witnesses had seen the man enter the Sainsbury’s store in the Headrow prior to his arrest. The store was closed while a detailed search went underway, but nothing has been found and the store is due to reopen.

Detective Inspector Dave McDougal, of Leeds District CID, said: “We will always treat any report of a person thought to be in possession of a firearm very seriously. Officers responded quickly to these reports and detained the suspect without incident.”

He continued:”While no firearm was recovered from the arrested man or in initial searches of the area we need to be certain and are conducting further searches today, particularly in the Sainsbury’s store. We apologise for any inconvenience this ongoing activity may cause but we hope people will understand that we need to treat reports of this nature seriously. We are aiming to remove the scene as quickly as possible once all necessary searches have taken place.”