Police are continuing to surround a house after a man held a woman hostage overnight.
Officers were called to a house in Chadwell St Mary, Essex, shortly after 10.30pm and were confronted by an armed man who was holding a woman hostage, police said.
A police spokesman said officers know the identities of both the man and the woman.
He said that trained negotiators had been in contact with the man throughout the night and Saturday morning.
The woman walked out of the house shortly before 10.30am on Saturday, the spokesman said.
She showed no signs of physical injury, but was in shock.
The woman is being spoken to by police officers and will be offered medical treatment.
Several nearby housing blocks remain evacuated and surrounding roads closed, the spokesman said.
