Armed police sent to Oldbury high-rise flats
Armed police descended on a residential estate in Oldbury on Saturday - just hours after Blackheath town centre was shutdown by armed officers.
Officers, including specialist negotiators, were sent to a flat in Hackwood House on the Lion Farm Estate where a man was threatening to harm himself with a knife.
An ambulance was also outside the high-rise flats building on the corner of Hartlebury Road and Badsey Road.
Emergency services were called at 2.30pm and officers forced their way into the flat around four hours later. The 34-year-old man was taken to hospital.
Daniel Yarnold, who lives in the Hackwood House flats, said police told him to stay indoors. He also reported that three stun grenades were thrown.
The 23-year-old said: "I came back from the shop and saw two police cars speed up to the flats.
"Then we had the armed police turn up and they told us we had to stay indoors and not come out of the block.
"We stayed in and then more police came with rifles.
"I've been told they chucked three stun grenades in."
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "Police were called to a disturbance at a flat on Hartlebury Road in Oldbury at around 2:30pm, where a 34-year-old man was threatening to harm himself with a knife.
"A number of specialist police resources, including negotiators and firearms officers, were at the scene in an attempt to bring the incident to a safe conclusion.
"Officers forced their way into the flat just after 6.20pm and the man was taken to hospital.
"Our officers are well versed at managing situations like this. Public safety is our primary concern therefore Hartlebury Road was closed for a short time as a precaution."
The incident came after Blackheath town centre, around one mile away from the Lion Farm Estate, was shut down when a knifeman was seen running out of Sainsbury's following a fire and a loud bang in the store's toilets.
Armed officers swooped on the town and a male suspect was arrested near the store. The incident is not believed to have been terror related.
