Bethnal Green police station closed after ‘shots fired at car’

Bangla sanglap desk: Bethnal Green police station was closed tonight after a man went into to the building reporting that shots had been fired at his car nearby.

A grey Mitsubishi was parked outside the building, in Victoria Park Square, with a pool of “dark liquid” underneath, witnesses said.

A large police cordon was put in place around the area, and an ambulance and several police cars were parking the street outside.

Following the incident, police in Tower Hamlets tweeted: “Due to an ongoing incident our front office at Bethnal Green Police Station is currently closed, please use alternative station or dial 101.”

The man told officers he had been shot at in Cambridge Heath Road, which runs parallel to Victoria Park Square, with the two by separated by Museum Gardens.

Firearms officers swarmed the scene, and roads in the area were closed.

Sarah Woolley, a fundraising officer for a local charity who lives in the area, said she saw a “big pool of dark liquid” and noticed a “weird smell” before she saw officers surround an empty car.

The 28-year-old told the Standard: “I was opposite the police station when a man in a red t-shirt was assisting police officers by pointing at a car and pointing down the road. I heard something said about a shooting.

“The car was a grey Mitsubishi parked opposite the station. It was facing in the wrong direction. It’s sides were dented in and there a big pool of dark liquid under the car. It wasn’t clear who it belonged to.

“At least a dozen police and other station staff rushed out of the building. Everyone was peering into the back window of the car and pointing at something.

“One of them ran down the road as if to chase someone. Police started asking us to leave the street but said it was okay to stand in the park.

“People in the park speculated that a high speed chase had gone wrong.

“More police cars and several ambulance arrived including a medic on a bike and doctors in orange jackets. They went into the station and police began taping off the road.”

On Twitter Toby Brown posted: “Police confirm it is a crime scene but won’t comment on rumour that ‘someone’s been shot’.

“Rumours running amock that it was a shooting.”