Man arrested after incident involving imitation firearm in Kirkby

A man has been arrested after an imitation gun was fired in Kirkby last night, Tuesday 25 February.

At around 11pm, it was reported that a man was walking along Kelso Close when he shot a firearm into the air.

Emergency services attended the scene and a bullet casing was found on the road, which was identified as coming from a blank firearm, and a cordon was put in place to enable a forensic examination of the scene. There were no reported injuries.

Shortly afterwards, a 42-year-old man from Kirkby was arrested on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and possessing an offensive weapon in a private place. He remains in police custody.

A blank-firing weapon, believed to be a Turkish-manufactured Ekol, has also been recovered and will now be forensically tested.

Knowsley Local Policing Chief Inspector Chris Ruane said: “We take all reports concerning firearms extremely seriously and thankfully due to the swift response of officers we were able to arrest a man very quickly in connection to this incident.

“To the untrained eye, an imitation firearm can cause fear and harm to people who wouldn’t know the difference between them or a more dangerous weapon if confronted with one.

“We rely on information given to us by the public and this makes a huge difference in identifying suspects, seizing weapons and removing suspects who would bring weapons onto our streets.

“It is vital that members of our communities come forward with information so we can make our communities safer for the decent, law-abiding people who live in areas affected by gun crime.

“Where people are willing to support the police, we will ensure every possible avenue is progressed to them. 

“And if you don’t feel comfortable coming directly to the police call the independent, anonymous, Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555 111, we need to know who is involved in gun crime and where those guns are being stored.” 

This month, Merseyside Police is supporting a national amnesty to recover Turkish manufactured Top-Venting Blank-Firing (TVBF) firearms from our streets. The firearms are the Turkish brands: Retay, Ekol, Ceonic and Blow.

The amnesty, which runs until Friday 28 February, encourages anyone who owns one of these firearms to turn them into a police station. Although they may have been legitimately and lawfully purchased originally, their possession is now illegal. You won’t face criminal prosecution if you surrender them before Friday 28 February.

This amnesty is important as these types of TVBF are readily convertible without specialist equipment, and across the country they have been used in several serious incidents, including four murders. Within the Merseyside area there have been at least 37 converted blank-firing weapons recovered of Ceonic, Ekol, and Retay manufacture since January 2021. 

To find your nearest drop-off point, visit: https://www.merseyside.police.uk/news/merseyside/news/2025/february-2025/four-week-amnesty-launched-for-illegal-turkish-blank-firers/