A primary school has been placed in lockdown as police frantically search for a gunman on the run.
Emergency services were called to a property on Collin Avenue in Edge Hill, Cairns, about 1pm on Thursday where they found two cars had collided.
Police believe one person fired shots at another before taking off on foot, triggering an emergency situation to be enforced by 2pm and an exclusion zone established across the entire suburb.
Locals have been urged to avoid the area or ‘stay inside with their doors and windows locked’.
Edge Hill State School, just hundreds of metres away from the scene, was placed into lockdown shortly after as parents received a text assuring ‘all of our students and staff are safe and well’.
A state school has been placed into lockdown and an exclusion zone established across the suburb of Edge Hill, in Cairns, after reports of gunshots on Thursday afternoon (pictured)
Police reversed the emergency declaration at 3:45pm and urged the public not to approach three people they are searching for.
They are described as a man with fair skin, black hair and no facial hair, a woman in her 30s with tan skin and wearing a dark top or dress, and a man in his 30s with tan skin, curly black hair and wearing a white shirt.
Parents were allowed to pick up their children from Pease Street about an hour later after the lockdown was eased.
Local resident, Mariana Versace, said she was overcome with ‘a lot of anxiety’ after being told the school’s pick up routine had been changed.
‘Edge Hill is supposed to be safe and the school in particular is supposed to be very good,’ she told the Cairns Post.
‘I think the crime level is absolutely absurd in Cairns at the moment just as we have seen yesterday and just as we have seen today.
‘As a parent and a local I am very much on guard all the time now and it really sad to see.’
Students spent about an hour in lockdown at the Edge Hill State School (pictured) before their parents were cleared to pick them up at about 3pm
The dog squad was seen outside of a property on Pease St about 2pm, with those inside told by police to come out with their hands up, the publication reports.
A heavy police presence remains at the scene, including the Special Emergency Response Team (SERT), as the operation continues to unfold.
A 500m exclusion zone surrounding the scene remains in place with all roads leading to Collin Avenue now blocked off by police vehicles.
Acting inspector Jason Chetham said police believe the incident wasn’t an act of road rage and that those involved ‘know each other’.
EXCLUSIVEREAD MORE: How Lazarus, 28, came back from the dead after he was allegedly stabbed 10 times at a wild party in one of Sydney’s richest suburbs
