Residents 'took cover' during bow and arrow incident

Residents of a village near Huddersfield have described how they took cover as a bow and arrow was fired at cars on a busy street.

Police were called to reports of a man behaving erratically and driving dangerously on Huddersfield Road in Skelmanthorpe, at about 17:30 BST on Tuesday, before he left the vehicle and aimed the weapon at passing cars.

Members of the public tackled the man to the ground before police arrived. A 68-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, and has since been detained under the Mental Health Act.

Harjinder Singh, of chip shop Groves Fisheries, said people were "very scared" during the incident.

Singh said he first heard something at about 17:30 BST in a nearby car park, then about 10 minutes later some children came into his shop crying.

He said: "I told the kids, 'don't worry you're safe in here', but they're still crying.

"I'm sorry for the kids but I'm sorry for him also."

Ronnie, who also witnessed the incident, said he "took cover" before he saw a member of the public tackle the man.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed no one had been injured but damage was caused to a number of vehicles.

The force said the arrested man was initially taken into custody before later being detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

Detectives from Kirklees District CID are continuing to carry out inquiries and a scene remains in place at an address on Huddersfield Road.

Supt Zaheer Abbas said: "This incident will have understandably caused significant concern to those directly involved and more widely in the close-knit community of Skelmanthorpe.

"Our work to reassure the community is continuing through the local neighbourhood policing team, and we hope our update that the suspect has now been detained for mental health treatment will help to give people some useful context.

"That should obviously not detract from the seriousness of this incident and the harm that could have been caused, and we would like to recognise the actions of the members of the public who intervened to help bring this incident to a safe conclusion."

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