Hunslet armed police incident: Emergency services descend on Arthington Place

Joanne Rankine, 52, lives on the neighbouring street Arthington View.

She said: “I’m glad it’s all sorted before the kids come back home, they would have been traumatised. It was scary for them this morning.

“We’ve never had anything like this before, not on these streets. But when things happen on these streets everybody comes together.”

One resident who lives on Arthington Place said he saw three men being detained by police - two in the early hours of this morning, and one at around 3pm.

He saw the property’s residents, a mother and her young children, leave the house shortly after the incident began at around 2.30am.

The eyewitness said: “It was all the shouting that initially woke us up at about 2.30am.

“Two guys came out of the house, one at a time, you could see they had the [police] gun lasers on them. Then the lady came out with the kids.”

The resident and his wife have been stuck inside their house since then, with officers directing him to go back inside when he tried to leave for work in the morning.

At around 3pm, the resident saw another man, who he believes was a teenager, leave the property. He was detained by police.

Around 10-15 armed officers then entered the property and searched the house, before they dispersed and the cordon was lifted at 1.45pm.

It appears the incident is now over as police and paramedics are starting to leave the scene. Our reporter says the police tape used to cordon off the street is now being taken down.

West Yorkshire Police is yet to issue any statement confirming the nature of the incident, but we’ll share further details as they emerge.

One man, who lives nearby, said: “I was walking my dogs in the park about an hour ago and the police told me to move back, to keep over to the other side of the park.

“I went somewhere else and came back and he said it’s fine to be here now. I counted 22 police vehicles and ambulances an hour ago, that’s not including the CID.”

Our reporter has seen armed police officers at the scene.

Arthington Place is currently closed to traffic and pedestrians. Our reporter says part of the neighbouring park, Hunslet Lake Park, is cordoned off too.

There are at least seven police cars and two ambulances, with a third having just arrived. An incident reponse unit is also present.

Four paramedics are waiting on standby at the end of Arthington Place.

Armed police have descended on a residential street in Hunslet today. A significant amount of police activity has been reported at Arthington Place. Our reporter is heading to the scene and West Yorkshire Police have been approached for comment.