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76 year old arrested after all-night shoot-out

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
76 year old arrested after all-night shoot-out

A 76 year old man has been arrested after shooting at police throughout the night in Bjärnum, Skåne, southern Sweden.

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Police stormed his apartment after filling it with tear gas early on Saturday morning.

Worried neighbours called the police just before 10pm on Friday after the man started shooting with live ammunition.

The 76 year old was firing a weapon all through the night and early morning, and police had hoped simply to tire him out, a plan which failed.

"We tried to get close to him in many ways, but nothing worked. The man also shot straight at us, and finally we shot back. We noticed that he got down on his knees straight after being shot at and after that he pulled back," said Eva-Gun Westford, spokesperson for Skåne police, to TT.

No police officers were injured.

During the morning the police used tear gas in an attempt to flush the man out, but without any result. After having shot at the man again officers stormed the house through the cellar at seven o´clock on Saturday morning and tried to find the man.

"But first of all we didn´t find him. At last we found him hidden in one of the attic rooms," said Eva-Gun Westford.

The man was injured in his stomach, but he was concious and managed to talk to the police.

"The man hadn´t shot himself, but was hit by one of the police´s bullets," said Eva-Gun Westford.

The 76 year old was unarmed, but despite his injury he still put up a fight when the police found him. According to the neighbours, the man, who is a former hunter, was annoyed with a newly built district heating power plant in the area.

The man was seen using both a pistol and a hunting rifle. The police told people living in the area to stay indoors and will continue their questioning of the neighbours during Saturday to get a better idea of what happened.

"It could be a psychological collapse which caused this," said Eva-Gun Westford.

In total, 30 police officers were sent to the scene. The man was taken to the central hospital in Kristianstad.

The police tried to get in contact with the man via a loudspeaker, which only resulted in him shooting more. Therefore the police told the neighbours to stay indoors and keep away from the windows.

There were no indications that the man was drunk.

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