AN ACTIVE shooter situation in
Panama City Beach has thrown the
Florida city into chaos, with an active
gunman pinned in his home after opening fire police officers earlier today.
Police confirmed this afternoon they had been carrying out surveillance on the suspect when they noticed a gas smell coming from his home.
They approached to investigate and were targeted by a barrage of gunfire, with one witness saying it sounded like a "full blown cannon had gone off".
Some police officers were pinned in place by gunfire, sparking a huge response including SWAT and a bomb squad.
At least one person has been hurt in the seige, officials said, with investigators linking the incident to an earlier "suspicious death" earlier today in Santa Rosa Beach, a town 40 miles from Panama City
At 3.35pm local time (8.35pm BST) a flash grenade was thrown into a residential building where the gunman has been pinned down.
Police are now believed to have entered the building, with another blast following soon after.
Witnesses have reported a shootout between police and a gunman with the shooter.
Some residents of the building have been evacuated by police, who have erected a cordon.
One witness told the Panama City News Herald it seemed like “100 rounds” had been fired.
He said: “I heard 20 or 30 shots then there was a pause, and then 15 minutes later there was another 20 or 30 shots and then it seemed like about 100 rounds going off.
“That was high-powered rifle power. That was no small arms fire. One of them sounded like a full blown cannon going off.”
Police scanners earlier indicated the
shooting may have begun in a nearby bank.
Another witness said: “It wasn’t one gunshot, it was ‘pop, pop, pop’.
“Then it stopped for a second and all of a second ‘pop, pop, pop’ again.
“It was absolutely petrifying and I wasn’t even affected. I wasn’t hurt, I’m here in one piece, I’m fine.”
A Facebook live video filmed at the scene by a local news team captured the terrifying moments gunshots rang out.
The reporter for FOX 29 said: “Okay, I’m not sure if you can hear that. Several shots are being fired as we speak.
“Several gunshots were just fired during this video. I’m not sure if you could hear them on here.
“Several shots were just fired and witnesses tell me more than 50 were heard earlier before we arrived.”
Lucille Moore school has been placed in lockdown while nearby St. Andrew School is in 'soft lockdown'. All students are safe.
The student school bus has been cancelled for both schools with parents asked to pick up their children themselves.
Another witness said: “They started firing and a whole bunch of police cars arrived. They were all still firing and they just started piling in, more police, more police.
“There were probably about 11 or 12 stages of gun volleys going on. By listening to it it really was hard to tell whether anyone was firing back.
"It sounded like things were going one way.
“That’s what I witnessed. I heard many different weapons, more than just a couple.
"It all sounded one way, whether it’s all coming from the police or whoever the other people were, I don’t know for a fact.”