Man dies after incident at Plymouth bookmakers

The man, in his 50s, entered the Ladbrokes branch in Crownhill Road at 6.45pm on Friday (25 January).

Police arrested the man, who was already unconscious, and he died a short time later.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said the man entered the shop wearing a gas mask.

He was "immediately tackled" by customers and "held down".

Ch Insp Ian Drummond-Smith told the BBC: "Customers and staff tackled the man, overpowered him, disarmed him and restrained him and when police officers arrived they found him being restrained but noted that he was unresponsive and wasn't breathing."

He said the police and ambulance service attempted to resuscitate him but he was declared dead about 20 minutes later.

Ch Insp Drummond-Smith added: "We have recovered a firearm of sorts, it hasn't been fully examined yet so I'm unable to confirm whether its a replica or a genuine firearm.

"This is a very serious incident. We cannot speculate on what has actually taken place here today."

Witness David Marfleet told the BBC: "As I drove past you could see that Ladbrokes was absolutely full of policeman at that time.

"We don't normally have any trouble around here, it's quite a surprise it being such a nice quiet area."

The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).