Police question York ‘bomber’
Police have continued to question a 43 year old man gunned down in the city centre after claiming to have explosives.
Officers were called to the Ouse Bridge at 9.00pm on Sunday, February 10 after the man claimed to be carrying explosives.
As a precaution, police cordoned off both ends of the Ouse Bridge, and evacuated a 300m radius surrounding the location. A three hour stand off followed in which police attempted to negotiate with the man.
The situation came to a head at 11.55pm, when officers opened fire on the man using rubber bullets. He was promptly arrested and taken to York District Hospital, where he was treated for what have been described as minor injuries from the rubber bullet and a dog bite.
A bomb disposal squad then proceeded to safely detonate the rucksack in situ, using a remote control to create a controlled explosive.
Speaking to the BBC, Det. Chief Inspector Mick Warne said, “I would like to emphasise the fact that no explosive device was recovered from the scene.”
Nouse has discovered that the man is a foreign national, and had been living homeless in York for three weeks. At the time of the incident he was a resident at York’s Arclight shelter, where many students work as volunteers.
