Police marksmen face probe after storming house and shooting father of three


armed police face an investigation after a father-of-three was gunned down early yesterday during a domestic row at home.

Batholomew 'Baz' Buckley was shot in his house by officers from West Yorkshire Police who arrived following a frantic 999 call from a distressed woman.

Mr Buckley, a 44-year-old divorcee, was last night in a 'serious' condition in hospital as the Independent Police Complaints Commission looked into the incident.

Friends said he did not have a steady girlfriend and were unsure who the mystery woman could be.

Mr Buckley, a jobless road worker, had boasted about bedding three women over Christmas, they said.

Neighbours in Brighouse spoke of hearing the screech of tyres as about five police vehicles pulled up outside Mr Buckley's home at 12.10am.

There was shouting before armed officers entered the house and about three gunshots were fired.

One resident said: 'I heard three bangs, which must have been gun shots. Then I saw him being stretchered out of the house.'

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He was taken out of the house on a stretcher to an ambulance. It was not clear if Mr Buckley had been armed and no details of the domestic row have been revealed.

His close friend Lee Wharf, 43, a kitchen fitter, said Mr Buckley had been chatty and in a good mood the afternoon before the shooting.

Mr Wharf said: 'I can't see any reason for armed police to have been called. He is a nice guy and was in a happy mood.' Mr Buckley divorced from his wife Nora Flaherty several years ago and the couple have three teenage children.

Friend Michaela Taylor, 37, said: 'I don't know the lass Baz was with. He lived in the house alone. He had mentioned having three conquests over the Christmas holidays. He is a good-looking fella and a ladies man.

'Baz was a local hard man but he didn't go looking for trouble. He certainly didn't use guns.'

The street was described by locals as 'rough' and frequented by drug dealers.

Susan Stables, who lives opposite the house, which was cordoned off with police tape, said: 'My husband was going to take the dog for a walk when it all happened and the police turned up. He was absolutely flabbergasted.'

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: 'The IPCC has deployed investigators to the scene of a police shooting in Brighouse.

'The IPCC will be conducting an independent investigation into the incident.'

Police across the UK have been accused in recent months of being 'trigger-happy' amid concerns over the use of guns.

Last month insurance worker David Sycamore, 39, was shot dead by armed police called to Guildford Cathedral in Surrey. He was seen with a replica pistol and was said to be depressed.

In May last year solicitor Mark Saunders, 32, was killed in a hail of bullets during a police siege at his £2.2 million flat in Chelsea, west London.