Police dismiss Olly Murs' claims that shots were fired in Oxford Circus terror scare

Mocked: the singer was criticised for spreading fear with his dramatic tweets at the time
Nick Ansell/PA

Police have dismissed claims by Olly Murs that there was a cover-up after reports of gunfire sparked a major scare on one of London’s busiest shopping streets.

Murs, 33, was accused of spreading fear after he sent a series of dramatic tweets from inside Selfridges on Oxford Street on November 24, claiming he heard gunshots.

“F*** everyone get out of Selfridges now, gun shots! I’m inside,” he posted amid a mass panic.

Although police later confirmed they found no “evidence of any shots fired”, Murs insisted on Monday that there was something “murky” about what happened.

British Transport Police, who were first to respond to reports of a serious incident, today reiterated there was no gunfire.

The force said in a statement: “This caused a significant level of panic which resulted in numerous calls from members of the public reporting gunfire.

Oxford Street false terror alert

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“Officers responded in line with our procedures of a terrorist incident, this included armed officers from British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police.

“A full and methodical search of the station and Oxford Street was conducted by our specially trained firearms officers. During the search, officers did not find any evidence of gunfire at the station.”

Despite being widely mocked when it emerged the incident was a false alarm, Murs said in an interview with the Sun: “Whether they were shooting into the air, or whatever, something happened that day — whether it was covered up, I don’t know.”

“It’s all a bit murky,” he added.

He said he was in Selfridge’s buying a massage chair for his aunt for Christmas when the mass panic broke out.

“One minute I’m sitting there and this guy’s saying, ‘If you press this button you get a massage’ — the next I’m getting thrown against a wall,” he said.

“And then there’s people screaming and running towards exits and I’m thinking, ‘What the f***?’

“I ran for my life thinking ‘Someone’s upstairs shooting.’ The noise of people screaming, it was terrifying.”

He ended up crammed in one of the shop’s back rooms with a group of other shoppers, where people told him they had heard shots fired.

He said: “The manager was in there, other senior people. This woman said ‘Someone was up there shooting, I could see him, in the beauty aisle he had a gun.’

“This girl was saying ‘Don’t tell me I’m lying, I saw this guy with my own eyes’. Whether he shot someone or was shooting in the air — well, obviously he didn’t shoot anyone — but someone saw something.”

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