Avon and Somerset Police<\/a> said two police firearms were discharged and a man received first aid for a wound to his hand.<\/p>\nHe was taken to hospital for further treatment for the injury which is not believed to be life-threatening.<\/p>\n
The 48-year-old man was arrested and remains in police custody in hospital.<\/p>\n
He was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.<\/p>\n
No officers were injured in the incident and all parties involved are being offered or are in receipt of support.<\/p>\n
The police force have made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the man being injured.<\/p>\n
Head of Operations, whose portfolio includes the Firearms Unit, Supt Vicks Hayward-Melen said: “We understand an incident of this nature may be alarming to the local community, but I must stress that matters of this nature are incredibly rare and we do not believe there is any wider risk to the public.<\/p>\n
“Our firearms officers receive extensive training and are held to the highest standards through regularly retesting and mandated refresher training.<\/p>\n
“The discharge of a police firearm is considered a last resort and is only actioned in cases where there is a significant threat to officers, themselves or members of the public.<\/p>\n
“They do an incredibly difficult job, which not many can do, and I commend those who take on this responsibility voluntarily and have to make these challenging decisions in high-pressure situations in a matter of moments.<\/p>\n
“They immediately entered the property, alongside paramedics, and administered first aid to the injured man before he was taken to hospital.”<\/p>\n
“Specialist search teams conducted a search of the property and found additional suspected firearms.<\/p>\n
“We would like to thank the community for their patience and understanding while these enquiries continue.<\/p>\n
“Local residents can expect to see an increased high-visibility police presence over the coming days and we urge anyone with any concerns to engage with our officers on patrol.<\/p>\n
“As with all cases of this nature, we have made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) as a result of the man being injured following police contact.”<\/p>\n
Local police remain at Merlin Park today conducting further searches and to provide reassurance to the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 48-year-old man is in hospital under police custody 17:23, 01 May 2025Updated 17:27, 01 May 2025 The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9312,381,748,188,393,4884,11945,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-66183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-avon-and-somerset-constabulary","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-portishead","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114433661538920101","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_man-in-hospital-1361793.jpg\")
The scene at Merlin Park.(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n