Business owners left shocked at death involving firearm on quiet street

It felt like a normal working day on Espley's Yard in Stafford on Monday morning, with a car care centre, a flooring firm and a taxi company all working in the town centre street, just off the A518 Newport Road near the Tesco Superstore and the former Poptastic nightclub.

It had been a far different scene on Friday evening, however, after emergency services had been called to the road around 6.20pm after receiving reports of a concern for welfare and found a man in his 50s who had discharged his firearm.

The man died from his injuries shortly afterwards and the area around Espley's Yard was closed off for several hours, with police cars visible on the A518 while officers inspected the scene.

For those working on the area around where the incident happened, the events of Friday night were a surprising thing to find out about, with many saying they didn't ever remember anything like that happening before around the area.

One person, who didn't want to be named, said: "We weren't around on Friday evening as this was after we'd finished working, so the first I heard about it was this morning.

"It's a shock as this is a very quiet area where people come to work and I don't remember any instances of violence on the road, so this happening is very shocking."

Another person, who asked not to be named, said he'd only just found out about the incident from reading the news.

He said: "It was surprising to hear what had happened here as I've never seen or heard anything that was threatening or violent on this street before.

"I hope it's nothing bad as you wonder why a man would be walking around with a gun, especially around here as it's all just businesses."

A member of staff at one of the businesses on the nearby Newport Road said they had heard from someone driving past about the number of police on the road on Friday and expressed surprise at news of a firearm being involved in a very quiet area of Stafford.

He said: "Our firm is based around here, but the person we had on call on Friday was working from home and the first I heard about this was my friend calling me to tell me there were police cars everywhere.

"We found out today what had happened and it's hard to digest what happened as it's very shocking and you don't expect someone to carrying a weapon around here.

"This is a quiet area and there's less people around here since the nightclub stopped doing Tuesday night events, so I'm really surprised to hear about this."

Staffordshire Police detective inspector Louise Booker, who is investigating the incident, said: “Our thoughts are with the man’s family in what is a tragic incident.

"We remain in regular contact with them and will be providing specialist support.”

While officers are not treating the death as suspicious, they are investigating the circumstances that led up to the gun going off.

Anyone with information that may help police is asked to call 101 quoting incident number 534 of 31 May, or to contact Crimestoppers.

Staffordshire Police has referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct due to previous police contact.