Residents voice their fears after shooting and disorder ripped through Bolton on Saturday evening.
Parkfield Avenue in Farnworth saw multiple shots fired on Saturday evening (Nov 19), followed by a two-vehicle crash on Bradford Road and a vehicle being driven into an address on Lavender Road.
Greater Manchester Police believe that all three incidents are linked.
At around 5:20pm, police were called to reports of a suspected "firearms discharge" on Parkfield Avenue in Farnworth.
Armed officers attended and cordons were set up as police secured the area.
Police then responded to reports of disorder on Bradford Road, where two vehicles crashed, and also on Lavender Road, where a vehicle had been driven into an address.
No arrests have yet been made in relation to any of these incidents.
Following the commotion on Saturday, residents around the areas where the disruption happened raised concerns.
Read more: Shots fired as 3 'connected' incidents happen in 1 night
On Sunday afternoon, The Bolton News could see the cordon on the junction of Bradford Road and Lavender Road had been lifted.
A smaller cordon across a property on Lavender Road remained, however.
The Land Rover Defender with smashed windows, which had previously been seen on the pavement on Bradford Road, had been removed from the scene by Sunday afternoon.
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed that additional officers deployed to the area will remain in place and continue to carry out patrols.
They are there to offer the public reassurance and will be on hand if anyone in the community wishes to speak to them about any information or concerns they might have.
The cordon on Parkfield Avenue had also been lifted.
Residents of Parkfield Avenue spoke to The Bolton News following the lifting of the cordon on the street.
Read more: RECAP: Updates as police put large cordon in place
One resident on the street was present when the shots were fired.
She said: “We heard a car speeding off. We just heard lots of banging, it did sound like fireworks. There were smashing sounds.
“It’s just New Bury. These things are happening all the time, it’s just getting worse, and when kids are around.
“Kids are always playing out front (on Parkfield Avenue), on their bikes and such.”
She added: “They’ve only just opened the road back up at around 2.30pm today.
“There were armed police up there in front of the house.”
Another resident said: “It’s not very good. It makes people think they want to move away from the area, that’s what me and my girlfriend have thought about.
Read more: 'Man with gun' spotted in Bolton pub - but not linked with shooting in Farnworth
“Lots of kids live on the street, any of them could have been caught up in it.
“It’s quiet normally, in terms of crime.”
Having heard about the shooting on Parkfield Avenue and the potential links to the disorder on Bradford Road and Lavender Avenue, residents around the latter area gave their thoughts.
One resident said: “It’s obviously not very good is it. We’re in an area where there’s a lot of young families, obviously you have children around, you do want to feel like your kids are safe, don’t you?
“There are a lot of little children around and teenagers, I fear as to what’s going on in their lives. There isn’t much around for kids to do, that’s another problem.
“A lot of the community centres have been closed, that sort of thing doesn’t help.”
Another resident said: “I saw the helicopter, there were a lot of police around.
“Around here it’s not happened like this before.
Read more: The Scrappers pay tribute to a much loved worker who died suddenly
“To be fair it’s quite safe really. Police came really quickly, and you sometimes see police walking around.
“I’m surprised because it’s happened just there. It was a complete shock.”
She added: “They look really normal, everyone looks normal, but you don’t know what they do behind closed doors.
“When it happened, police and everyone did come really quickly, and then the helicopter was around for a long time.”
Another resident in the area added: “This area is really good, the people are nice. The community is very, very nice, it’s the first time this has happened.”
One reader previously shared his account of the incident.
He said: "I asked my wife to phone police when she first saw more than two males with sharp long blades in their hands running into a house with faces covered.
"They all ran away (and went into) an escort vehicle that picked them up shortly before police arrived on the scene.
"We've never had any incident like this on this road in past four years.
"Hope everyone is OK."
If you have any information about this incident you can call 101 with any information you might have, quoting incident number 2,439 of 19.11.2022.
Alternatively, you can all the independent charity Crimestoppers (anonymously) on 0800 555 111.
If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at zach.harrison@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @zachhjourno.
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