Further arrest made in connection with incident in Southampton city centre

We have arrested a second man in connection with the incident in Southampton city centre yesterday (Aug 29).

A 21-year-old man from Southampton is in custody this morning (Aug 30) after being arrested on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and assault thereby occasioning actual bodily harm.

Yesterday, we arrested an 18-year-old man from Southampton on suspicion of the same offences.

The arrests come after we received a number of reports of two people on the roofs of stores in Above Bar Street at 3.41pm on Aug 29 carrying what looked like long barrelled firearms.

We immediately deployed our armed response units to the area and carried out an extensive search.

One man later reported he had been shot in the leg with what we believed to be an air weapon. Luckily his injury is not serious.

The 18-year-old man and 21-year-old man remain in police custody at this time.

We understand that this incident has concerned people in the town centre yesterday. We want to thank those who called us and alerted us to this incident, and those who have come forward as witnesses so far.

We know there are a number of images have been circulated on social media. Again, we would ask that you send these to us rather than share them as they may be valuable evidence in this investigation. Please get in touch by calling 101 and quoting 44200332797.