Police are appealing for witnesses after two men threatened a student driver and his instructor with a pistol in Bury.
At around 4pm on Sunday 17 January 2016, the victims were sitting in a car on Bridge Street, Bury, when two men emerged from a nearby ginnel and approached the driver’s side of the car.
One of the offenders then removed what has been described as a ‘Mauser pistol’ from the waistband of his trousers and pointed it at the victim sitting in the driver’s seat.
The two offenders then walked off in the direction of Bell Lane, as the man with the gun tucked the pistol back into his trousers.
The shaken victims then drove off in the opposite direction before reporting the incident to police.
The offender with the gun is described as white, between 19 and 25 years old, around 6ft tall with a slim build and brown eyes. He was wearing a light-grey coloured hooded top with the hood up and matching jogging bottoms.
The second offender is described as white, around 30 years old, between 5ft 9in and 5ft11in tall, of slim build and short hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a black body warmer.
Detective Sergeant Ian Partington said: “This is a very strange incident which seemingly has no motive, but must have been incredibly frightening for the people threatened.
“We do not know whether this was, in fact, a genuine firearm, but until we can ascertain that we must treat this as a viable threat.
“The pistol itself is very distinctive and the victim has given a detailed description, which has allowed us to identify what we believe it to have looked like.
“I would ask that anyone who was in the area at the time, or who may have seen these offenders either before or after the incident to contact police.”
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting incident number 170116/1686 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on .
