A DRIVER in his 60s was shot dead by police after fleeing a crash scene where he was brandished a gun at a girl, witnesses claimed.
Shocked bystanders said they saw him pointing a pistol at a woman after a collision between a car and van in Thetford, Norfolk, on Sunday.
Armed cops were scrambled and shot twice at him near an embankment near London Road.
Medics tried to revive the man, in his 60s, but he was declared dead at the spot, half a mile from the crash at 8.25pm on Sunday.
A local said his neighbour saw the aftermath of the head-on smash between a Mercedes Vito van and black hatchback on the A11 near Thetford.
He told The Sun: “My neighbour said this guy pointed a gun at a girl. There was a girl there who saw it all happen and said, ‘What the f*** are you doing?’.
“I don’t know if she was one driver.
“But it looks like the guy ran off through the housing estate before he was shot on the bypass.”
A teenage girl living opposite added: “I heard a massive crash. My mother and brother heard a woman screaming someone had a gun.
“The police came very quickly.”
A non-police-issue gun was recovered from the scene.
When officers arrived, one of the cars – a Mercedes van – was badly damaged, the airbag had gone off, and the car was unoccupied.
The other car – a Honda Jazz – was damaged on one side.
The driver of the Honda suffered minor injuries and declined medical treatment in hospital.
Norfolk Police are not looking for anyone else and the force referred itself to the police watchdog for investigation.
It was unclear if the two drivers knew each other.
Investigations are ongoing following the horror incident.
Deputy Chief Constable Dave Marshall of Norfolk Police said: “This is a very serious matter, sadly someone has lost their life, and I understand people will want to know what happened.
“However, there is a duty on this organisation, my colleagues and I, to protect the integrity and independence of the IOPC investigation so it can progress and make its own assessment of what happened.
“We are cooperating fully with the IOPC investigation and are in the process of handing over all body-worn video footage, 999 calls and drone footage so this can be thoroughly investigated, and to ensure full transparency.”
Assistant Chief Constable David Buckley added earlier: “We understand this incident will cause concern in the community.
“Our highly trained armed officers deploy to hundreds of firearms related calls each year, but incidents where police discharge firearms are thankfully incredibly rare. A full and independent investigation is already underway.
“We are of course cooperating fully with the IOPC investigation and will be handing over all bodyworn footage and 999 calls to ensure transparency.
“We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.”
