A HOUSE is set to remain on lockdown tonight as specially-trained officers search the property after it was surrounded by armed police this afternoon.

Firearms officers surrounded and entered the house in a dramatic swoop linked to an earlier shooting incident on a nearby Bradford street.

The major police operation got under way in Highfield Crescent, off Bingley Road, Heaton, just after 3pm today, according to eye-witnesses who reported a massive presence of armed officers and police dogs.

The police helicopter could also be seen circling above the street, while ambulances and paramedics had been brought to the scene as a precaution.

After shutting off the cul-de-sac for almost two hours, the team of armed police left the scene, although police were expected to remain at the property overnight.

An officer told the property’s occupiers they had to spend the night elsewhere, while the house was fingertip searched by a specialist team of officers.

Ward councillor Mohammed Amran, who lives opposite the house, said it was mayhem with police shouting at neighbours to get back inside their homes.

Cllr Amran said police escorted a woman out of the property, carrying a baby in her arms.

Speaking to the Telegraph & Argus as the drama unfolded, he said: “We don’t know what’s going on. The family is very quiet. They are a simple family. They’ve lived there for about 20 years.”

Armed police could be seen with their guns trained on a house, with a number of officers, some with shields, also inside the house.

Police said no arrests had been made at the house in Highfield Crescent and confirmed that the raid had been linked to an earlier shooting incident in which a house in Stoney Ridge Avenue, also in Heaton, had been damaged.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “Police attended at a property in Heaton to execute a warrant in connection with a firearms discharge in which a property was damaged on Stoney Ridge Avenue.

"No arrests were made in connection with the warrant and enquiries remain ongoing.”

Witnesses also reported that three young men ‘arrested’ by police off the street earlier in the incident had later been released. One of the men detained initially, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We were arrested because we were in a Volkswagen Golf. I think that’s the type of car police were looking for, but they released us and just said it was a mistake.”

Shortly before the incident concluded, Cllr Amran described how officers still had guns trained on the house as a number of other officers went inside the house with a dog.

One neighbour, who was kept outside his house while events unfolded, said it was “unbelievable”.

He said: “Everybody is shocked, it’s a quiet street and there’s never much trouble around here.”

Earlier in the day, armed officers had been called to a house in Stoney Ridge Avenue after a shot was fired at a window. It happened at around 1.23am. Detective Chief Inspector Jaz Khan, of Protective Services Crime, said: “Armed officers attended and found damage to a window which appeared to be consistent with the discharge of a firearm.

“No injuries were reported. Enquiries are at an early stage, but this is being treated as a targeted incident.

“We are conducting a thorough investigation to find those responsible for this incident.”

Ward councillor Mohammad Shabbir (Lab) said the police had told him about the incident.

“Until the police get to the bottom of this we just don’t know what’s gone on. Worryingly there’s an increase in prevalence of violence across the country, not just here in Bradford. It’s not good. It’s a worrying trend.”

Mohammed Bilal, who is carrying out construction work on a neighbouring property, said: “It’s not right for there to be shootings in a residential area.

"It’s never happened here before, this is a nice quiet area."

Anyone with information should call police on 101, quoting crime reference number 13170230201, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.