Three men have been arrested after a man was threatened with a gun.

Armed police officers rushed to a property in Roodegate, Basildon, on Saturday.

All three men, aged 32, 29 and 27, were arrested the next day.

Residents told how they saw armed police flood the area and families spoke of their shock following the incident.

Vanessa Clarke, 40, said: “I think this is very scary.

“To think we’ve got guns in our road is just awful really.

“This is a nice little community, nothing ever really happens around here.

“I’ve got a young family and don’t want this sort of thing to start happening where we live.

“We’ve lived here for about 13 years now and we’ve never had anything like this before.

“I still can’t quite believe what has happened here and hope we never get anything like this happening here again.

“It sounds like police have acted very quickly in this case and that can only be a good thing of course.

“It all sounds like a very scary incident and would have scared anyone who witnesses this incident.

“We can’t have people going around thinking this sort of thing is acceptable.”

Stuart Golding, 32, said he’d never heard of anything like it in my life.

He added: “It’s horrendous to think we’ve got guns in our street, where we live.

“It makes me feel worried for my family and also for the more vulnerable people who live here.

“I think there’s a risk that older people especially will feel more and more worried about going out due to this incident - and I think that’s all very sad.

“But I do feel it’s important that people are not put off from going about their daily business by incidents like this.

“We should feel confidence that police have acted quickly.”

A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed three men have been arrested.

He said: “This is in connection with an incident in Basildon where a man was assaulted and threatened with what has been described as a firearm.

“It happened at an address in Roodegate at around 2.15pm on Saturday 14 September.

“Three men from Basildon were arrested on Monday.

“A 29 year-old man was arrested on suspicion of GBH and possession of firearms with intent while a 27 year-old and a 32 year-old were both arrested on suspicion of possession of firearms with intent.

“All three are currently in custody.”