Nuneaton: Gunman shouted 'game over' as he took hostages
'There was probably about 20 kids, crying, that were trying to get out - about five people at a time trying to get through a door'
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Your support makes all the difference.Witnesses to the Nuneaton hostage incident said the gunman was armed with a shotgun and shouted “game over” as he took hostages at the bowling alley.
The head of the MFA bowling alley said that two of his staff were being held hostage by the male gunman.
Medhi Amshar suggested the gunman might the boyfriend or husband of one of the staff members, but this has not been confirmed.
“We believe from what my manageress tells me that he is an ex-husband or a boyfriend of a member of staff,” he told Sky News.
“That is what I know, I can't confirm that for definite.”
Armed police surrounded the West Midlands complex shortly after the incident began at around 3pm this afternoon.
There are unconfirmed reports that those taken hostage have been released.
Shortly after 6.30pm a series of loud bangs could be heard - and about 10 minutes later an ambulance was allowed through the cordon and two people got out.
The gunman had brandished his weapon above his head and yelled "game over" after arriving at the bowling alley, one witness said.
A children's soft play area is in the same complex as the bowling alley and parents described their terror when they realised the danger they were in.
Alex Moore-Holland told Sky News: "We were just having a game ... and a man who was also bowling ran across our lane and he was like 'get out, get out', shouting.
"I was like 'What's going on?' so I turn around and there was a white guy, greyish beard, weird-looking man, he's got a gun up here, like this over his head.
"He was saying 'game over, game over', everyone shouting, screaming, panicking, trying to get out and I didn't know what to make of it, really.
"I ran, got my things as quickly as I could and get out of there."
Asked about the man's weapon, his friend Liam Roberts said: "It was a shotgun, a long-looking thing.
"I thought it was like a sword or a big knife but the second time when he came out near the door about 10 minutes after, this was to try and scare people, we knew it was a shotgun."
Around 40 or 50 people, including children, were inside the complex at the time.
"There was probably about 20 kids, crying, that were trying to get out - about five people at a time trying to get through a door."
They speculated that the hostage taker was trying to clear the building of people at first.
Mr Roberts said: "I think he was trying to make people scared, to know he was there."
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