A POLICE operation around a home in suburban Tamworth yesterday ended quietly after an apparent siege by a man lasted about five hours following a family domestic issue.
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The man was escorted on foot from the home in Ernest St in Oxley Vale about 4pm by police but only after hours of police calls for the man to give himself up to police and come out of the house.
The drama began as early as 9am when neighbours reported the arrival of two police cars to the home, belonging to a young family.
Neighbours told The Leader they believed a young woman and two young children, one a baby believed to only be two months old, had been in the house with a man but had left before more police, including heavily- kitted tactical response police, descended on the street, along with fire and ambulance services.
Later, another neighbour reported hearing police trying to talk a man, believed to be wielding a knife, out of the home.
About 4pm there were reports of breaking glass and loud noises and shortly after a female police officer and two plain-clothes detectives were seen escorting the man out of the home and into police vehicles at the top of Yarmouth Pde.
The man appeared to be handcuffed.
One neighbour said she had left her home in the morning but noticed two police cars outside the home. When she returned at 2pm, she found it blocked off with crime tape.
A number of police vehicles including a four-wheel drive with a trailer believed to be holding riot squad equipment, members of NSW Fire and Rescue and an ambulance, were parked for a lengthy period in Yarmouth Pde.
The woman said another resident told her she should “go inside and stay behind locked doors”.
Other neighbours told The Leader that police had not warned them to stay indoors or off the street.
The Police Media Unit yesterday on two separate occasions told The Leader they were unable to provide any information except to say there was an “ongoing police operation under way in Tamworth”.