ARMED police sealed off a street and surrounded a house after reports of a gunshot in Burnley.

Other officers were called in to control a crowd which gathered during the incident in Waterloo Road last night when a police car windscreen was smashed.

Police eventually forced their way into the property but found it empty.

It was the second incident involving armed police teams in an hour.

No weapons were found in either.

In the first an anonymous phone call was received alerting police to a domestic dispute where a man was reported to have a weapon. Four armed officers and other policemen surrounded the house in Aylesbury Walk and after 20 minutes a man left the house and ran off. Nearby houses were not evacuated and a man was arrested as he tried to leave the area.

In the second incident a resident of Waterloo Road reported hearing a gun shot at 7.15pm and police cars were used to seal off the street to pedestrians and vehicles.

Inspector John Massey said: "We brought in extra resources and every available officer was in the area. Four armed officers surrounded a house and other police kept the area clear.

"A crowd gathered and officers had to be deployed to control it and someone smashed the back windscreen of one of the police cars blocking the road.

"It is very sad that when you are trying to protect the public they give us a hard time.

"We forced our way into one house and searched it but did not find anything. We have to take reports like this very seriously and go by the book."

Police were in the area for more than two hours.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.