Primary school put on lockdown after reports of man 'waving meat cleaver' - latest updates

A primary school was put on lockdown today after reports of a man waving a meat clever. Police rushed to St Georges Centre C.E. Primary School in Tyldesley, Wigan, just after 3pm.

Children were kept in classrooms and parents in a hall while officers hunted the suspect. The Manchester Evening News understands parents tackled the man to the ground before he was arrested by police.

One parent told the MEN: “I heard him from my back garden, I was having a cig and could hear some screaming. When I went to pick up my child, we got put in the hall and the kids were in their class rooms. We were in there for an hour or so."

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Parents at nearby Tyldesley Primary School were contacted at the time to ask them to collect their children due to the 'ongoing incident'. Another said: “I saw a man, a white man, he had a meat knife and he was raising it. He was really angry at the time. It was scary."

A police helicopter was seen in the area. A GMP spokesman said: "At around 3.10pm on Friday 15 July, we were called to reports of a man with a bladed weapon at a primary school on Darlington Street, Tyldesley. Officers attended the scene and a man has been arrested."

This is a breaking incident, follow updates below:

Dramatic moment parents tackle knifeman to the floor after spotting him ‘waving meat cleaver’ at primary school

One man who intervened during the stand off with the armed man told the MEN: “I saw him walking towards the school with a meat cleaver. There was some lads with batons and I stood between them asking them not to hurt him. He’s obviously got mental health issues.

“He was making verbal threats, the lads were surrounding him and then