London: A man brandishing a large knife triggered panic in a residential area of Edinburgh on Monday morning (local time), prompting a major armed police response and public warnings to avoid the vicinity.
Two people were injured and had to be rushed to hospital after police responded to calls and reached a housing scheme in Calder, in the west of Scotland capital Edinburgh.
According to local people, police activity began before 9 am (2.30 pm IST) following reports of a man with a sharp bladed weapon.
Several streets in the area were sealed off as cops moved in. The city council said all schools and council buildings in the Calder area were on lockdown, while a bus service was diverted until further notice.
Videos and images from the scene show the man alleged to have been involved in the incident at the window of an 11th-floor flat in the multi-storeyed building, looking down at the crowd below.
Other footage shared on social media shows a man walking in the area holding a large bladed weapon. A damaged shop is also visible in the videos and images.
Police said the incident was “not terror related”, and declared there is no longer any “risk to the wider public.”
The identity and details about the miscreant have not been released by Edinburgh police yet.
William Ramsay, a local resident, said he believed the man with the weapon had entered the stairwell of his building. “He smashed the local shop, possibly stabbed two people,” he told the Press Association.
