A Nottinghamshire Police officer was shot in the foot in the city centre early on Sunday after approaching two people on Angel Row, the force said. The wounded officer is being treated in hospital while detectives hunt a man and a woman who fled the scene shortly before 04:50 BST.
What police have confirmed
Assistant Chief Constable Claire Rukas said the officer had moved to speak with two people when the shooting happened. A firearm was recovered at the scene, but the force has not yet released details of the weapon type or whether it was fired more than once. Neither person is in custody as of mid-morning Sunday.
Angel Row, a short street beside Nottingham’s Old Market Square, remained closed with a large forensic scene in place. Trams and buses that normally cut through the square were diverted, and the city’s weekend nightlife crowd had largely cleared by the time emergency calls came in.
How the morning unfolded
Nottinghamshire Police said the injured officer approached the pair in Angel Row just before 04:50. Paramedics treated the wound to his foot on scene before he was taken to hospital. The force has not classified the injury as life-threatening, but foot wounds from firearms can require surgery and lengthy rehabilitation because of bone and tendon damage.
Rukas asked anyone with CCTV, dashcam footage, or phone video from the area between 04:00 and 05:30 to contact the major incident room. She stressed that “even the smallest bit of information could make all the difference” while the two people remain at large.
Context in Nottingham
Nottingham has seen high-profile violence in recent years, including the 2023 knife attacks that killed three people and led to national debate over community sentencing. Sunday’s shooting is different in character—a targeted encounter with an armed pair rather than a random spree—but it lands at a moment when UK forces are under pressure to show they can police city centres with depleted budgets.
The Home Office tracks firearms offences separately from knife crime; non-fatal shootings against officers remain rare but carry outsized political weight. The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, typically waits for the Independent Office for Police Conduct review before commenting on tactics, but federation leaders often cite foot patrols in nightlife districts as high-risk work.
What happens next
Detectives will work through ballistics on the recovered firearm, compare any DNA or fingerprints, and pull licence-plate reads from automatic number-plate recognition cameras on routes out of the city centre. If the pair were travelling by car, those systems often provide the first solid lead within hours.
Nottinghamshire Police has not declared a wider public alert beyond the cordon, but Rukas’s statement signals the force treats them as armed and dangerous. Angel Row is expected to stay closed through at least Sunday afternoon while scenes-of-crime officers finish their work and city transport planners restore normal routes into Old Market Square.