Four days after police shot a 40-year-old man, a 16-year-old remains critically ill in hospital and the community of Hersden is still reeling.

The girl was stabbed at the home in The Avenue in the early hours of Monday.

Shortly after the attack, an officer shot Marc Traylor following a tense stand-off. He is also in hospital, fighting for his life.

The drama unfolded at 11.20pm on Sunday, when police were called to the property on the junction with The Elms after it emerged the girl had been injured.

Armed officers, negotiators, dog handlers and the police helicopter were involved.

Ruby Miller, 21, who lives opposite the house, added: “I looked out of my window at about 11.15pm and saw about 20 officers piling in to the house.”

Earlier in the evening it is thought a white car ploughed into a Mitsubishi Pajero parked 120 yards from the home.

Witnesses say they heard a bang and saw a woman jump out of the car. It had been removed by police by 9am on Monday.

“A whole bunch of wrong has happened here. But this is a place where people know each other and look out for another" - Lucy Spellar

The man at the centre of the incident, Marc Traylor, grew up in Canterbury and went to Beauherne Primary School, now Canterbury Primary School.

He lived on the London Road Estate and was one of only four boys in the school who passed the 11+ exam, winning a place in the selective stream at the Chaucer School in 1986.

Tom Cherry, 40, was in his year at Beauherne. He said: “I liked him. He was a good bloke. He was obviously clever and passed the 11+ in a school which had a low pass rate. I didn’t see him much after that.”

Those who knew Traylor at Chaucer only have the faintest memories of him and believe he may have left the school in the third year.

On his Facebook page he lists himself as an employee of Asda, but it is not certain whether he was still employed there at the time he was shot by police.

Around a decade ago Traylor moved his family to Cumbria, where he ran a pub called the Lamplugh Tip in Lamplugh. He moved his family back to Hersden and is best known in the village as the man who walks his dogs on nearby fields.

He lives in the semi at the corner of The Avenue and The Elms with his three daughters and partner. Earlier, he had lived at the other end of the village in Maple Gardens.

Drew King, of North View, often passes him in the village. The 27-year-old said: “I don’t know him well. No one seems to as they are a family that kept to themselves.”

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is required to investigate any incident where police discharge a firearm.

IPCC officials, wearing orange jackets, flooded the village on Monday afternoon to take statements from witnesses.

They are likely to produce a report later on the year.

Chelsea Webb, 22, was among those doing the school run the morning after the incident.

The mum-of-one, of St Albans Road, said: “There were all these police everywhere. No one really knew what had happened until later in the day.

“I just feel for the poor girl that was injured.”

Mum-of-three Lucy Spellar, 25, above, of Sutton Road: “A whole bunch of wrong has happened here. But this is a place where people know each other and look out for another. We’ve got a strong community spirit here.

“Everyone is going to think what a bad place Hersden. The truth is that it really isn’t.”

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