Man wearing skeleton mask and 'waving machete around' attacks car outside Co-op store

Shoppers and residents were left terrified as a man thought to be armed with a machete and a baseball bat shouted threats and attacked a car.

Passersby watched in horror as the masked man shouted threats outside the Co-op store on Leymoor Road in Golcar on Wednesday night.

Police said the man was reported to be carrying a baseball bat and a machete.

One man who saw some of what happened said: "A guy in a tracksuit ran past me. I heard him shouting and screaming and then I heard banging.

"He had a black machete and was smashing a car up. He was shouting at a man in a car, telling him to get out.

"He then put this massive blade down the front of his pants. He was wearing a skeleton mask which was covering the lower half of his face."

The dad-of-one, who did not want to be named, said: "I have just moved to Golcar and have a young child. It's crazy and worrying when you see these things.

"I think it was a targeted attack as he obviously knew this guy. I rang the police and they turned up."

Another witness told the Examiner that the incident happened at around 8.15pm.

The local dad-of-two said a man had produced a machete during an argument outside the Co-op store.

"He was waving it about over his head and shouting something weird. I saw a car with the driver's side window smashed in."

The Golcar resident added: "I am glad that I didn't have the kids with me. It's not something you want to see when shopping for milk.

"There were lots of people around including shop workers."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said officers were called to the junction of Leymoor Road and Sycamore Avenue at 8.15pm to reports of an affray and criminal damage to a car.

"A man was reported to have smashed a car window with a baseball bat and was reported to have been seen in possession of a machete. Officers attended and inquiries are ongoing."

Anyone with information is asked to call police via 101, quoting the reference number 13180455967.

The Leymoor Road incident follows a similar outbreak of disorder in August which was reported to be youths fighting with weapons, according to police.

At the time, a resident said he saw one young man who was armed with a machete-type weapon on a patch of land between Oak Avenue and Sycamore Avenue.

A short time later a woman found a machete on the pavement on Beech Avenue.