A COMMUNITY is in shock after witnessing a gun-toting teenager shot by police after a four-hour siege.

James Souster, aged 18, threatened to kill himself and officers during a tense stand-off outside his home at Belvedere Road, Newton, on Friday.

Two marksmen hit the teenager twice in the thigh after he walked out of the building towards them brandishing a gun. Mr Souster was said to be in a satisfactory condition in Warrington General Hospital as the GUARDIAN went to press.

Police were first alerted shortly after 2pm last Friday after two young girls told a shopkeeper they had been threatened with a handgun.

But officers were unable to trace the man until two hours later when they received further reports of a man with a gun in a house on Belvedere Road.

Armed response units surrounded the ground-floor flat and began negotiations at 6pm. Two hours later, Mr Souster tried to break through the police cordon and was shot.

A handful of terrified residents were evacuated from the scene, including young children and elderly people.

A neighbour living opposite the flat said: "I remember hearing someone shout 'drop the gun'. Then it went quiet and lots of police cars and ambulances turned up. Everybody was peering out of their windows wondering what was happening."

Shopkeeper Farid Suriya said Mr Souster was a loner who had regularly visited his shop since he moved in several weeks ago.

He said: "I had just started a video service and he started coming in here regularly, renting out a lot of top-shelf videos. He was very quiet - a loner."

He added: "Everybody is in shock. This is the first time anything like this has happened. Everybody is very friendly here and it's always been known as a very nice area to live. I think parents will be afraid of letting their children out after this."

Victim support workers are offering counselling to witnesses at the mobile incident room opposite the flat, which is still surrounded by a police cordon.

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