Greater Manchester Police sent several resources, including multiple vehicles, armed officers and constabulary dogs to the job in the sprawling Cheetham Hill area of the city
Police stormed residential streets after receiving reports of a person with a gun – which turned out to be a walking stick.
It’s thought armed officers and police dogs attended the callout in several vehicles on Sunday evening after concerned members of the public thought they’d seen someone with a weapon. The units were stood down after two hours though as, by this time, they’d established the item was in fact a walking aid.
Nobody was arrested, of course, and the case was closed. Members of the public in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, had somehow mistaken the walking stick for a firearm.
A screenshot from a video taken on Sunday and seen by Manchester Evening News shows at least three police vehicles in attendance in the sprawling inner-city neighbourhood, home to families. Residents were baffled and shared their amusement on social media. “How can a stick look like a gun?” one man posted online.