Raoul Moat dead after 'shots fired'
Updated on 10 July 2010
Police confirm that Raoul Moat is dead. He shot himself after a seven hour stand off with armed police, where he had been spotted on a river bank near Rothbury town centre.
Police in Rothbury said a man who fits Raoul Moat's description has been found in the riverbank area of Rothbury and they began negotiating with him.
At around 1.35am shots were heard to be fired in the area. Police than confirmed that Moat was believed to be injured and was being treated. Ambulances were seen leaving the scene shortly afterwards. No police officers had been injured and had fired "no shots". He was pronounced dead in hospital at 2.20am.
Earlier, at around 7.37pm people in the town were urgently warned to stay inside and lock their doors "for their own safety".
Journalists covering the search for the fugitive gunman were told to get inside their vehicles. They were then moved back still further - several hundred yards away from the riverside area.
An exclusion zone was set up. Residents living within it were ordered to stay indoors. Traffic has been stopped from entering Rothbury from the east side.
A retired taxi driver, Dave Murray, 67, of Knocklaw, said Moat appeared to have been chased through the village and was heading east before being cornered at the primary school tennis courts and bowling green.
He said: "There is nowhere for him to go, the river is on one side and this road and all the police on the other."
A series of armed response units rushed to the scene, sirens blaring. Lines of police vans with flashing lights are stationed in the road outside, with an armed officer in full body armour standing guard.
'There can now only be three outcomes'
Darkness is falling in Rothbury and we could be in for a long night, writes Channel 4 News Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson.
The cordon has just opened at the south end of town to admit a vehicle containing a man in civilian clothing. My sources tell me they believe this man to be Raoul Moat’s uncle, who last night appeared on television appealing for Raoul Moat to give himself up.
The situation has now settled. The frenetic activity of earlier this evening has stopped, and we have the sense that this could last for some time. But for the police the optimum situation has been reached.
There have been no further shooting incidents since the weekend. Their prime suspect is now contained in a secure area in which there can only be three outcomes.
One: Raoul Moat takes his own life. Two: Raoul Moat is shot dead, with or without shooting police officers. Or three – the optimum scenario – Raoul Moat gives himself up to the police.
Hence the potentially vital importance of getting into the stand-off negotiations people who are closest to him.
'The first aim is to calm the suspected gunman down'
Eye witnesses say the situation on the riverbank in Rothbury appears very, very calm, writes Channel 4 News reporter Darshna Soni.
For the last couple of hours, a man has reportedly been seen sitting down with his back to a tree, surrounded by around 16 armed officers. The man, who police say "matches the description of Raoul Moat" is pointing a gun at his head.
There doesn't seem to be much movement, but that's exactly what officers want, according to an ex-police negotiator I have been speaking to.
He says officers first aim will be to calm the suspected gunman down. An officer has been seen wearing different clothes to the armed police - he will take a very different approach and his main aim will be to try to establish a rapport with him, by referring to him by his first name, by talking to him about how he is feeling and what he may need.
Their eventual aim will be to get him to surrender peacefully. They will want this to end without a shot being fired.
The media have been asked to pull back. Negotiators will not want Moat to think that the world is watching him, that this may be his chance to end it his way.
Police snipers on the scene
Police snipers could clearly be seen pointing their guns towards the south side of the riverside area - another appeared to be pointing a taser. A man who could possibly be the negotiator, could also be seen talking.
One armed officer on the eastern side of the village told reporters: "I cannot explain the gravity of the situation. You're welcome to stay here but he (Moat) is on the other side of the primary school tennis courts and he is still armed."
Another officer, who would not give his name, said: "We're keeping everybody out of his line of sight because if he gets a shot off we want no-one getting hit."
And a woman said she had just spoken by phone to her mother – who is stuck at her house inside the exclusion zone - and said she had seen Moat, surrounded by officers, with what looked like a shotgun to his head.
Another witness said he was lying face down surrounded by about 10 armed officers about 30 yards away, with their weapons trained on him.
One resident said: "Basically the whole place is under siege".
More armed police from unmarked cars have been kitting themselves out in a car park next to Rothbury Recreation Club - and two NHS incident response unit ambulances fitted with CCTV and blacked-out windows are deployed nearby.
At around 9.20pm the police ordered all journalists and media to withdraw to an area ten miles away - they said the presence of the press was adversely affecting their ability to negotiate.major police operation is underway in Rothbury. Residents have been told to stay inside as police speak with a man who appears to be Raoul Moat.
A police source has said: "A man who fits the description of Raoul Thomas Moat has been located in the riverbank area in the vicinity of Rothbury. Police are currently negotiating."
Map of area
View The hunt for Raoul Moat in a larger map
Channel 4 News Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson who is on the scene, wrote at 8.45pm: "We have been at a position approximately 150 yards from an apparent siege situation.
"We have seen many heavily armed policeman at a site overlooking the river just south Rothbury.
"Also, one officer with what appeared to be a Taser with a yellow handle and several officers behind shields.
"Curiously the police helicopter remains overhead circling some miles distant.
"The police say they have located a man resembling Raoul Moat, but there are no further confirmed details.
"We have witnessed what appears a police negotiation in a white shirt in position close to the river bank probably no more than 20 metres maximum from the river.
"There are unconfirmed reports that this man is a holding a firearm to his head which would explain what appears to be a standoff rather than an arrest operation or a shoot out.
"This has been the situation now since approximately 7.15 so for well over an hour this has been continuing. The site is close - a few hundred yards to the field where the police say Raoul Moat camped in Rothby over the weekend.
"They released pictures today of the tent, duvet and sleeping bag found at that site.
"Naturally as a result of this operation a substantial area is now closed off as this operation continues."
Earlier Alex Thomson, who is on the scene, said: "I'm standing at the southern fringe of Rothbury. I'm looking at an ambulance which seconds ago arrived to join several police 4 x 4 vehicles.
"They've staked out an area close to where a Rothbury resident said his garden had been disturbed earlier today.
"Police are keeping a large crowd of media around a hundred yards from the scene.
"A minutes ago two police cars were in collision together as they raced the short distance form the town main street to where the current incident is unfolding
"I can see a paramedic talking to an armed police officer in one of the main B roads out of town.
"This is an area which leads off from the B-road down to a small gorge through which the local river flows. It would not be very far at all from the area in which the police say Raoul Moat was camping over last weekend."
In the last few minutes police in Rothbury said a man who fits his description had been found in the riverbank area of Rothbury and they are currently negotiating.
People in the town have been warned to stay inside and lock their doors "for their own safety".
A few moments earlier, journalists covering the search for fugitive gunman Raoul Moat were told to get inside their vehicles - they were then moved back still further - several hundred yards away from the riverside area.
An exclusion zone has been set up - residents living within it have been ordered to stay indoors. Traffic has been stopped from entering Rothbury from the east side.
Several armed response units rushed to the scene, sirens blaring. Lines of police vans with flashing lights are stationed in the road outside, with an armed officer in full body armour standing guard. An ambulance was also at the scene.
One witness reported seeing police snipers pointing their guns towards the south side of the riverside area as more squad cars sped to the area.
One armed officer on the eastern side of the village told reporters: "I cannot explain the gravity of the situation. You're welcome to stay here but he (Moat) is on the other side of the primary school tennis courts and he is still armed."
And a woman said she'd just spoken by phone to her mother - who's stuck at her house inside the exclusion zone - and said she'd seen Moat, surrounded by officers, with a gun to his head.
More armed police from unmarked cars have been kitting themselves out in a car park next to Rothbury Recreation Club.
