Police have shot a man dead after they were called to reports that a person armed with a firearm was making threats to kill, PA reported.
Horrified residents described seeing armed police swarm their block of flats moments before the officers shot dead a man who had a gun and was threatening to kill someone.
They shot a white man outside a flat on the sixth floor of Picardy House, an 11-storey former local authority building near Lavender Hill cemetery.
Officers were called to an address in Cedar Road, Enfield, north London, at 11.50pm last night where they shot a white man, aged 43, outside the property, the Metropolitan Police said.
Cedar Road, where the shooting took place
He was pronounced dead at the scene and a non-police firearm was recovered.
Neighbours desbcribed seeing around 20 armed officers enter the building before hearing two shots that "sounded like firecrackers".
Residents said the shooting happened outside a flat on the sixth floor, which has been sealed off by police.
Dowan Mustafa, 20, who lives on the seventh floor with his mother, said he saw armed police officers swarm the building, and later heard two shots being fired.
He said: "I was looking over our balcony and I saw coppers swarming the building. They were armed - around 20 of them.
"The coppers came in and after I heard the shots.
"I heard two gunshots, proper loud gunshots, which woke everyone up.
"They are saying it was a shotgun but we are not too sure.
"Everyone has been evacuated from the sixth floor."
Scotland Yard said officers had been called to an address in Barnet at 9.35pm following reports that a man with a firearm was making threats to kill.
He had left the address before police arrived and officers later went to the property in Enfield.
The man was in his 40s, the Metropolitan Police said [file photo]
A spokesman said: "The Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) is in attendance at the scene.
"As a matter of routine, the incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for investigation."