Armed police arrested a man after children were allegedly threatened with a knife at a public park in Lurgan.
Eyewitnesses say a man confronted a group of young children at around 7pm at Lord Lurgan Memorial Park on Thursday and shouted obscenities.
It is understood the man later left the area after several adults intervened.
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Described by the PSNI as a “terrifying incident”, it took place just days after three children were murdered in a knife attack in England.
Bebe King (6), Elsie Dot Stancombe (7) and Alice Dasilva Aguiar (9) died at a Taylor Swift-themed children’s event in Southport on Monday.
A short time after the park incidence members of a special armed response unit arrested a 59-year-old man at a property in Lurgan.
Dramatic footage circulated on social media shows several carloads of police arriving at the Woodville Street area
Police armed with guns, shields and a battering ram can be heard ordering the man from a property and telling him to get his hands up and “keep still”.
He was then placed face against a wall and restrained.
It is understood the man arrested for the alleged offences has been a victim of anti-social behaviour over a long period of time and local sources suggest that his property was targeted shortly before the Thursday’s confrontation in Lord Lurgan park.
An eyewitness, who was in the park with her six-year-old daughter, told how she became aware of a “commotion” as her child played on a slide.
“You could see what was going on and there was a man right up on a group of young children, right up in their faces, and he gripped one and he was standing in his proximity screaming in his face,” he said.
“And when he moved we saw something in his hand, and I just assumed it was a stick.”
The woman described how one of the terrified children approached her for help.
“A wee fella came running up from it and stood beside me,” she said.
“I said to him ‘are you alright?’ and he said ‘no, he has a knife’.
“I said, ‘what?’
He said, ‘he has a knife’…I just rang the police straight away.
“They all seemed kind of shook up.”
The eyewitness said several adults then intervened.
“There was still a lot of shouting going on from this man and he was just screaming obscenities at the young ones,” she said.
The eyewitness said she was mindful of the triple-murder in Southport this week.
“It’s a bit scary, after what happened over in England with the knife attack, things can get out of hand very quickly.”
A spokeswoman for the PSNI said: “We received a report at around 7pm that a man, armed with a knife, was threatening young people in the park.
“Officers attended and located the man in a house in a street nearby.
“He was arrested on suspicion of two counts of common assault and possession of an article with a blade or point.
“He remains in police custody at this time.
“Thankfully, there were no reports of any injuries, but this was a terrifying incident for the young victims.”
