Police in Spa Road and Norfolk Road, Weymouth

Part of a house on Spa Road near the railway bridge was cordoned off by police and officerswere posted outside while other searched the property.

A police dog unit was also at the scene.

Dorset Police have said they are at the property as part of the investigation into the incident in Marsh Road when shots were fired.

From Thursday morning, two uniformed constables were posted outside the house, while forensics and canine unit officers were regularly entering and leaving.

The garden gate of the house, leading onto an alleyway skirting the railway verge, was cordoned off, and local residents and traders said the police presence had begun the night before.

"We heard voices in the middle of the night and looked out and [the police] were there," said one neighbour, while in a newsagents across the road, the owner said he had noticed police activity outside the house at 5.30 that morning.

Two women on their way to a function at St. Adhelm's Church said they had noticed the police presence earlier that day on their way to the bus stop, adding that they had spotted what appeared to be a forensics officer up a tree in the back garden, handing an object to a colleague below.

A Dorset Police spokesman, said: "We can confirm that we are searching a house on Spa Road in connection with an incident where shots were reportedly fired in Weymouth."

An address in Norfolk Road was also searched.

"We can confirm an address was searched in connection with the ongoing investigation into an incident where shots were reportedly fired in the area of Marsh Road in Weymouth," police said in a statement.