Police combed a town centre after reports of a man threatening people with a gun.
A shop assistant and a woman in a car were both confronted by a gunman in Wor thing on Sunday morning.
No one was injured and a man in his 60s was arrested and sectioned.
A decommissioned handgun was seized.
The alarm was raised at about 10.55am by staff at the Quality Foods shop in Teville Road, Wor thing, when the man pointed what police described as a “possible firearm” at staff.
Threatened
A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: “The man quickly left the shop after the member of staff said he was going to call the police. Nothing was taken.”
Five minutes later, police were called to Stoke Abbott Road after a man was reported to have threatened a woman in a car with a “suspected firearm”.
Sussex Police said: “It is thought he was trying to take the vehicle from the woman but, when she refused to get out, he walked away.”
The suspect was then seen walking through Marks & Spencer in Montague Street, though no firearms were shown.
Police stopped a man in Marine Parade after seeing him try a car door.
They arrested a 63-yearold man on suspicion of attempted robbery and seized the handgun.
He was released on bail without charge until June 3 but was voluntarily sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
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