Police lift Inner West lockdown while search for armed man continues

New South Wales Police lifted a precautionary lockdown in Sydney’s Inner West while continuing to search for an armed man. The police operation followed reports of a stolen vehicle at a carpark on Williams Pde in Dulwich Hill. Police said they believed the man had a shotgun and warned the public not to approach him. Police were called to the carpark about 10.20am on Friday.

Fitzgerald said officers understood that a man had run from the scene carrying what they believed was a shotgun, heading toward Union St and then Laxton Pde. Police had not found him by midday, and later released an image of the man while asking the public for help locating him.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that authorities had imposed a precautionary lockdown during the search. Its account said police lifted the lockdown but kept searching. WAtoday’s headline also reported that the lockdown had been lifted during the hunt for a man armed with a shotgun. The reported lifting of restrictions did not mark the end of the police search.

The reports describe different aspects of the operation rather than conflicting accounts of its outcome. The Sydney Morning Herald emphasizes the lockdown and its lifting; 7NEWS provides details about the reported vehicle, the suspected weapon, and the search route.

The police account, as quoted by 7NEWS, describes the weapon as believed to be a shotgun; it does not establish that the man was carrying one. A postman told 7NEWS that he heard a verbal altercation while walking along Williams Pde. He said one of the people involved told him they had tracked a stolen car to the location.

The postman also recounted hearing a warning that the man had a sawn-off shotgun. Those details are the witness’s account, not an independently confirmed police finding in the report. A witness separately told 7NEWS.com.au that officers knocked on doors and urged residents not to leave their homes.

7NEWS also reported that one fire truck went to the scene and that crews extinguished a blaze about 10.50am; a local told the outlet police had blocked access to the surrounding area by the time the car was extinguished. These reported details describe activity at the site, while the central police operation remained the search for the man.

The immediate public-safety instruction reported by police was not to approach the man. Police had released his image and were seeking public assistance, while the lockdown had been lifted and the search continued. The available accounts do not establish the man’s identity, whether he had a firearm, or whether police had located him after the reports described the search.