Man shot by police charged over double stabbing

A man who was shot by armed police has been charged in connection with a double stabbing in Merseyside.

Ryan Baker, 32, will appear in court next month to face two charges of attempted murder and one of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Merseyside Police said officers had shot a suspect, who was later detained under the Mental Health Act, on Tobruk Road in Huyton's Bluebell estate on 16 May last year.

A man in his 20s and a woman in her 50s were treated in hospital at the time for suspected knife wounds.

A witness told the BBC at the time she heard a single loud bang and then a further series of what sounded like five or six gunshots.

Merseyside Police said the suspect was taken to hospital and treated for gunshot wounds to his abdomen.

The force later referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is standard in cases where police discharge their firearms.

The witness told the BBC at the time residents on the street were told to stay in their homes by armed police

"We all got told 'get in your houses, get in your houses, firearms, firearms'," she said.

"We were all pushed into our homes so much so I had a stranger in my house, the police just pushed him into my house.

"I said he doesn't live here, she said 'I don't care get him in'."

Baker, of Tobruk Road, is set to make an initial appearance at South Sefton Magistrates' Court in Bootle on 2 April via video-link.

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