Armed police were called to Liverpool city centre on Monday evening after reports of a man with a weapon on Pall Mall. A 42-year-old man from Liverpool was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and taken into custody for questioning. No-one was injured.
Incident on Pall Mall
At around 6.45pm, police received a report of a man with a weapon on Pall Mall. Armed officers were deployed and a man was detained nearby at 7.10pm. A shovel was reportedly found in his possession. The incident has now been stood down.
ICMP college lockdown
Students and parents of students at the ICMP music college on Pall Mall said the building had been put "into lockdown" after the incident. Rachael, whose son Zach attends ICMP, said at 7.30pm: "My son contacted me, saying he wouldn't be back home yet and that there's a person [wielding a weapon] on Pall Mall. He was going wild in the street. The staff have pulled the shutters down. It's really scary. He's trapped in there. I think the police have been called."
When the ECHO arrived at the scene just before 8pm, the shutters were partially down and three police cars and a dog unit were parked on Prussia Street and Highfield Street outside ICMP. Two officers were then seen going inside the building. A few minutes later, the shutters were raised fully and dozens of students started to leave.
Witness accounts
Luca Pierson, 19, claimed he and several others saw the man on Prussia Street with a weapon. He said: "We all just ran inside (the college)." A fellow student added: "There was a guy in his boxers [with a weapon]. He was just down the street. He looked at us, we looked at him. Then we ran straight inside. We didn't really know how to act. This was about two hours ago."
Anyone with information about what happened can contact @MerPolCC on X or call 101 with reference number 907.
