Showcase shooting: Gunman on the run after shots fired at Liverpool cinema in major police incident

A gunman is on the loose after shots were fired at a busy cinema in Liverpool.

A huge emergency response was scrambled after shots were blasted at the Showcase Cinema on East Lancashire Road at around 8.50pm last night (Wednesday), the Liverpool Echo reports. The building was locked down, with staff and customers kept inside.

One eyewitness said a worker inside the cinema 'couldn't speak' after a man 'in flipflops' pointed a gun at her. About 20 minutes before, there was an incident at Sangha's Newsagent on Lower House Lane where a firearm had been fired.

Try MEN Premium now with our amazing New Year offer... just click here to give it a try.

A major incident has been declared following the shootings in Liverpool with the gunman remaining at large. Police are urging people to stay indoors.

No-one is believed to have been injured at this stage and the incident is not being treated as terror-related. Dozens of police cars were at the scene last night, while armed police were seen guarding the cordon outside the building.

People were later escorted in small groups from the building, past a line of armed officers and to their cars. One witness who was inside the cinema, Craig Moorhead, said he was kept inside the building for 45 minutes.

The 35-year-old from Garston had been to watch Wonka with his daughter and her friend, who are both 14. He said as the film ended he heard police around the back of the building, and came out into the foyer to find the cinema had been locked down.

He said: "As we came out of the cinema screen the armed police response team was running in. I was talking to the girl on the desk, apparently a fella had pointed a shotgun at her. She was in shock."

A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said