Heavily armed police lock down Melbourne CBD, man arrested
A man has been arrested after forcing the closure of several streets in Melbourne’s CBD.
The man, 26, was arrested after it was believed he was driving erratically along Flinders Street on Wednesday 1.50pm, police said.
He was arrested at the intersection of Flinders and William streets.
About 10 cop cars on the scene in no time down at Flinders St. @theage @newscomauHQ @heraldsunphoto @9NewsAUS @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/Z7AFLB3mCC
— Julian Kendall (@jkmccrann) February 5, 2020
He remains in custody but is yet to be charged.
Victoria Police Superintendent Dan Trimble told reporters the incident isn’t terror-related.
“There was a backpack in the car when he was arrested and we got the bomb response unit to clear that and as a precautionary measure we made an exclusion zone,” he said.
The 26-year-old wasn’t known to police before this incident, Supt Trimble said.
Witness Julian Kendall uploaded video of the scene to Twitter.
He claims “10 cop cars” were on Flinders Street responding.
Earlier, police closed off William and Flinders streets but Supt Trimble expects business to return to normal for the peak hour commute.
Witness Heba Teryaki, 24, told the Herald Sun the man was yelling “for about five minutes”.
“I was really scared, frightened,” she told the paper.
“I thought dead set I was going to die.”
More to come.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
