Police have launched an appeal after shots were fired at an address in Maidstone
11:53, 17 February 2020
updated: 15:21, 24 February 2020
Shots were fired at a block of flats in Maidstone last night.
Emergency services attended an address in Massey Close near Armstrong Road just before 8pm.
Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate are investigating. Officers said the window of a flat had been damaged by shots discharged from outside the premises.
Patrols, including armed officers, attended the scene. There were no injuries, and so far no arrests.
Forensic officers later examined the scene and a review of CCTV in the area is under way.
A neighbour who didn't want to be identified said she heard what sounded like four gun shots.
A second woman was visiting a relative who lives opposite the flats.
She said: "We heard something like gun shots, which we were guessing were fireworks.
"I talked to my father and told him to see what was going on out the front window.
"He said that sometimes it happens here. It is a dodgy building, single mothers and ex-boyfriends. We asked the police what was happening, but they said they couldn't say anything."
She said the incident had made her reluctant to open the door. She said: "My dad moved here at the beginning of the year - he used to live further up the estate and they didn’t have any problems there."
Another neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said: "We heard about four shots at around 8 o’clock and looked out the window and saw cars pulling up, like black Jeeps. My neighbour said she saw some police come and go into the flats."
"Our kids were scared. The first floor flat window is shattered.
"At first we thought it was someone whacking on the metal bin shelters or maybe gun shots."
She said: "Our kids were scared, but we said it was nothing to do with us. My daughter heard it, trying to get her to bed was hard but luckily her room is at the back of the house.”
It is the same block of flats where armed police were called to an incident in August of last year, when large numbers of police with dogs arrived to arrest a suspect involved in an earlier altercation that had occurred in Grigg Lane in Headcorn. On that occasion a 17-year-old was subsequently arrested on suspicion of making threats with a firearm, believed to have been an air-gun.
There is no police presence at the scene this morning, although the glass in the window of one of the flats is shattered with pock-marks in the plaster above it.
The flats, which are owned by the housing association Golding Homes, were opened in 2012.
The association said it would be making contact with the resident to offer support.
Officers are urging witnesses or anyone with any information to contact Kent Police on 01622 604 100, quoting crime reference 46/30075/20.
Alternatively contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously by dialling 0800 555111 or by completing the online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org
