Part of Maidstone town centre has been cordoned off by police.
Officers arrived after an incident at around 3.30pm in Pudding Lane.
The road was cordoned off from the Earl Street end of Pudding Lane to the Old House at Home pub near the junction with Medway Street. Most of the police activity appeared to be in and around Charmian Beaton jewellers.
About eight officers, both uniformed and in plain clothes, were at the scene with four marked vehicles.
At about 4.25pm, somebody dressed in a white boiler suit, was seen coming out of the shop, escorted by officers and put into a car.
One worker said police had told her a man was “inside the shop with something he shouldn’t have. Something that went bang, bang”.