Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes: Residents Of Manchester Estate Express Shock At Deaths

"I Just Heard Gun Shots, Bang, Bang, Bang"
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People living on the sprawling Hattersley council estate have expressed their shock at Tuesday's murders of two policewomen.

Many were faced by a massive police cordon as they returned home from work as the area went into virtual lockdown.

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Members of the public have begun to leave flowers and tributes to the dead officers

Some schoolchildren had to be picked up at the cordon by parents who were unable to collect them as normal as intensive police inquiries began into the double murders of officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes.

A fleet of police cars, tactical aid vans, ambulances and a bomb disposal unit surrounded the main focus of activity at Abbey Gardens with many officers and forensic teams combing the scene.

Traffic restrictions were initially in place up to the main road off the Mottram roundabout, while cars were not allowed into the car park at the nearby Tesco Extra superstore.

One witness described the incident itself as "like something on the movies" with a reported 13 gunshots and an explosion and also reports of officers being in tears at the scene.

Local window cleaner Warren Shepherd was on his rounds close to where the officers were shot.

"I just heard gun shots, bang, bang, bang - around 10 of them, then a pause and a big explosion," he said.

"I went around the back of the houses to see what happened and there was a police car that looked empty.

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Officers watch as a private ambulance takes away the body of Pc Fiona Bone

"There was people, neighbours stood around there and one of my customers said, 'They've been shot! The police officers have been shot!'

"Everybody was in shock and couldn't believe it.

"It must have been a matter of minutes, more police cars came and an ambulance came."

Mr Shepherd said he went back to his van but could see the aftermath through a gap between two houses.

He added: "I saw one body covered up and going into the back of the ambulance.

"I saw another body on a trolley and it looked like they were doing heart compressions on the body, and I had had enough by then.

"It was like something on the movies.

"It's just so sad for the family of the two police women.

"Both lost their lives just doing their jobs and my heart goes out to their families and I know people around here will feel the same."

A woman called Naomi said her ex-boyfriend witnessed the shootings.

She said: "He (ex-boyfriend) is a bit shook up when I saw him. He was walking back from the doctor's and he heard a man he knew shout to him.

"Then someone has come outside the house, probably Cregan, and shot two officers and then he threw a grenade in the garden. He said the officers hit the floor."

Christopher Quinn, 31, who lives in nearby Ashworth Lane, said: "I didn't see anything. I just heard basically...the only way I can describe it...is a boom inside water.

"I didn't hear any firing, just this one bang."

Several locals responded spontaneously in the hours after by leaving floral tributes at the cordon.

Karen Hutchinson, 60, passed a bouquet of flowers to a police officer.

She said: "I was just so shocked this morning. It is so frightening when this happens on your doorstep.

"Police officers do a good job. My heart goes out to them. Two police officers losing their life, it's just horrendous."

A man wearing jeans and a white T-shirt left flowers with a note written on the back of a school letter that read: "To the families and work colleagues of the two brave officers that laid down their lives. Our thoughts and prayers go to them."

Two other bouquets had notes attached which read: "Brave heroes."