A man has died in a shooting involving armed police at a junction of the M5 motorway near Bristol.
An eyewitness said officers fired shots at a car on the Portbury Hundred (A369) near junction 19 for Portishead at about 09:30 BST. He said he saw police shoot at the passenger window and drag a man out of the bullet-riddled car.
Avon and Somerset Police said it had referred the death to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). The force said it was not terror-related.
David Ellison said he saw officers fire between six and 10 shots through the passenger window using handguns.
“They surrounded it. They shot maybe five, six or 10 times,” he said. “Then they dragged a man from the car to resuscitate him. “It came off the roundabout towards Portishead and then was boxed in by cars.”
A red car with smashed windows can be seen behind the police cordon.
Forensic officers in white protective suits are scouring every inch of the car and road surface. An object on the roof of the red car looks like a handgun to the naked eye. There are bullet holes in the windows and shards of shattered glass on the tarmac below. The driver’s door is open.
This afternoon police erected a large privacy barrier across the end of the road and extended the cordon around the scene.
A large blue police tent has been carried in and installed next to the car.
Lisa Fussell said she had been driving along the Portbury Hundred when she came across a scene of “chaos” involving two unmarked police cars, “five or six officers dressed all in black” and the red car. “The air ambulance landed in front of us. The medics got out and ran to a red car. It looked like someone had been taken ill,” she said. “It frightened us and it’s upsetting now that we know he’s been killed. He was someone’s son.”
A police spokesman said: “We can confirm a man died earlier this morning in an incident involving police firearms on The Portbury Hundred (A369) in Portishead. “We have referred the incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.”
An IPCC spokesman confirmed it had launched an investigation and said its teams were at the scene gathering evidence.
The Great Western Air Ambulance’s critical care team also attended the scene. The road is likely to be closed for several hours.
The Portbury Hundred links the M5 motorway to the town of Portishead, to the west of Bristol.