Police have found no evidence of a suspected gunman who was reported to have entered a disused brewery in Sheffield early on Friday morning.
South Yorkshire police had sealed off the former Stones brewery on Neepsend Lane, north of the city centre, after reports that a man carrying what was believed to be a gun had entered the site.
There was rush-hour disruption as roads were closed and the public were warned to steer clear of the area for almost seven hours while officers conducted a comprehensive search.
At about midday the force issued a statement saying it was confident there was no substance to the report, and that it wanted to reassure the public there was no ongoing danger.
Armed police and police dogs outside a disused brewery where a gunman was last seen at 5.15am today pic.twitter.com/X3ewNRmM7s
— Claire Lewis (@newsgirl25) July 29, 2016
Supt Scott Green said: “In the current climate, we will always take any report of this nature seriously and put measures in place to ensure the safety of the public as this is and will always be paramount.
“I want to thank the public for their patience and understanding with this incident, as there has been major disruption in Sheffield this morning and we appreciate this has caused significant traffic delays and people being unable to attend their place of work and go about their daily business.
“I would always encourage anyone to report incidents of this nature to the police, as we will always take action to ensure the city is kept safe and free from harm.”
