Met Police detective injured in Hackney shooting Published duration 15 October 2015

image caption Witnesses said gunfire was heard in Clarissa Street after police entered Stonebridge Park estate

A detective has been shot during a Met Police operation in east London.

The male detective, who works in a firearms unit dealing with gang crime, was shot in the shoulder at about 12:45 BST in Hackney, Scotland Yard said.

He is in a stable condition in hospital and a 31-year-old man was arrested at the scene. A non-police firearm has also been recovered.

Witnesses reported seeing police dogs and helicopters and hearing gunfire as police entered Stonebridge Park estate.

image copyright David Silvester image caption Witnesses said there was a heavy police presence at the scene

A specialist firearms unit and officers from Trident Area Crime Command, which is responsible for tackling gang crime, were conducting an operation in Scriven Street at the time of the shooting.

No-one else was injured.

Commander Duncan Ball said for operational reasons he could not reveal whether police had fired any shots, but said: "This incident reveals the very real risks our police officers face on a day-to-day basis while protecting the safety of Londoners."

Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "So soon after the tragic death of an officer on Merseyside , this incident once again reminds us of the dangers faced by officers policing in 2015."

Kaner Korbay, 46, owns Bree-Zee dry cleaners opposite where the detective was shot.

He said: "There was a raid on a house in Scriven Street, they tried to get away and the police were chasing them.

"One of them shot the policeman. Right in the middle of the street, the centre of Haggerston Road.

"I heard the noise of the gun, two rounds I think.

image copyright Reuters

"Then I was walking up the road and a police officer came up to me with a machine gun and told me to stay away and asked me if I had seen anything.

"I could see the officer who was shot, he was sitting up and he had blood on his back."

Mr Korbay said the officer's t-shirt was removed for treatment and he thought he had been shot in the shoulder.

"I could see the police handcuffing someone and pushing him against the wall," he added.

David Silvester, 28, who owns an import business, said he believed there had been an undercover police operation under way.

He said: "We were in the house and we heard a bunch of yelling. We went outside and there was a bunch of officers in green with their dogs.

image copyright Reuters image caption A witness said the officer's clothing was removed for medical treatment

"They had helmets and machine guns, I think.

"That's the point we heard the gun fire. They were all scrambling about. It was two shots, I think.

"The whole road was filled with undercover police. They all burst out of their cars (when the shots went off)."

Ibrahim Paytoncular, 44, who owns a chip shop, said: "We heard the shot and looked out the window and saw lots of police in the road.

"There was a policeman lying in the road and he must have been undercover because he was wearing ordinary clothes.

"All the other police were standing around him and then the ambulance turned up."