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One arrest after man armed with axe rams car into house

News imageBBC To the left hand side of the a broad living room window, on the external wall of a house, there is a hole in the wall through which you can see the inside of the house. Broken bricks have spilled onto the driveway.BBC
Extensive damage was caused to the house during the incident in the Galliagh area of Derry

A man has been arrested on suspicion of four counts of attempted murder after a man armed with an axe repeatedly drove a car into a house.

The police said they fired a baton round at the suspect's leg when he produced a knife during the incident at Altcar Park in the Galliagh area of Londonderry in the early hours of Tuesday.

A 36-year-old man remains in police custody.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said extensive damage was caused to the property but the four occupants were not hurt.

News imageShows a black car with its windows smashed and dents to the bodywork.
A car was badly damaged during the overnight incident in Altcar Park

A nearby vehicle was also damaged.

"Officers deployed incapacitant spray twice in an effort to halt the man's violent actions; however he produced an additional knife and continued to ram the property with his vehicle," said Supt Claire Hamilton.

"Thankfully, although they were very shaken by their terrifying ordeal, the four occupants of the property were brought to safety by officers and are otherwise uninjured."

News imageA police car sits beside a footpath in a residential area. The houses on either side of the road are two-storey, their facades painted off-white and their roofs covered in brown tiles.
Police at the scene of the incident