A man thought that there was a terror attack on him when he came upon some playing children and did something quite unexpected of him.
Eye witnesses said the man clambered out of one the front windows of this building head-first
The panic-stricken man mistook school children shouting and banging trays for a terror attack and then did the next thing on his mind; he dived from the window of a café where he was, suffering a broken arm afterwards.
According to Mirror Online, the man was among many customers thrown into panic at Costa Coffee in Didsbury village during the disturbance on Wednesday afternoon.
People sitting on the first floor of the café are reported to have ‘freaked out’ when they heard shouting and several ‘gunshot-like’ bangs.
Witnesses said the man, believing the premises to be under siege, clambered out of a front window head-first before running to a nearby bank to call for help.
Manchester Evening News reports that other customers upstairs said they, too, thought they were under attack.
One woman, who asked not to be named, said: “I was sitting having a coffee when there was a really loud shout.
“At first I thought it was just someone messing about, but then I heard some massive bangs. It sounded like shots were being fired. It was not just me who thought that.
“Other people were running around trying to get out on to the balcony but the door was locked. I think that’s why the man went for one of the front windows.
“When I looked round I could only see his feet hanging from the window. He was climbing out head first.
“To be honest I wasn’t surprised by his reaction because we all thought an attack was happening. It sounded like there was a shooting downstairs. I was expecting people wearing balaclavas and carrying guns to come upstairs.
“Afterwards one woman said the first thing she thought about was the Paris attacks.”
It was only when a friend of a customer came upstairs that the group realised it was not an attack or shooting. It turned out the banging had been caused by a group of young people throwing the trays on the floor.
“Someone came up and said it had been a group of students messing about”, she added.
Police confirmed they had been called to reports of a disturbance at 3.50pm.
A GMP spokesman said a man was taken to hospital with a suspected broken arm via ambulance. There was no further police action.
A group of school children were seen running from Costa around the same time of the incident, a worker at a nearby business said.