"My daughter opened the front door and got screamed at to get back inside."
This was the first Jon Egan knew about a major anti-terror operation taking place just yards from his house one year ago today. Mr Egan, like other residents of Rutland Avenue, would find his world turned upside down in the hours and days that followed.
It may sound cliched but Rutland Avenue is not a street you would expect to be caught up in a huge police operation. It's a quiet road of big houses on the edge of Sefton Park in a fairly affluent part of south Liverpool. Its properties are predominantly taken up by families, while a number have been converted into shared houses for students and young professionals.
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But on November 14, 2021, Rutland Avenue became the central focus of an enormous anti-terror investigation that would see its residents locked in their homes for days.
That's because for months before that date, the residents of this street had unknowingly been living alongside a man plotting murder and mayhem. Emad Al Swealmeen had rented his flat in Rutland Avenue back in April of that year, his mind set on causing carnage and pain in the city of Liverpool.
It was only a couple of hours after Al Swealmeen detonated his improvised bomb in the back of a taxi outside Liverpool Women's Hospital and killed himself that police arrived in Rutland Avenue having worked out that this was where the lone wolf operation had begun.
Speaking about those first moments, Mr Egan said: "My daughter and her boyfriend had stayed over at ours and they were leaving the house. They opened our door and were suddenly screamed at by a police officer to get back inside. There was no explanation and we didn't know what was going on.
"The next thing we saw was the road being blocked off at both ends. We would not be allowed out of our homes for two days, which still feels pretty surreal to think about."
Patrick Goode is a University of Liverpool student who also lives in the same street. He said: "A few of my housemates actually left the street and text me to say, don't leave as you won't be able to get back in."
While Rutland residents were not given much information as to what on earth was going on, some could see from inside their homes more and more police and armed officers arrive in the street as the day turned into the night. It would become clear their attentions were trained firmly on one property in the middle of the road.
Patrick described witnessing alarming scenes outside his house. He said: "Loads of unmarked cars suddenly arrived with lots more armed officers and guys with camouflage on. We saw one of these guys carrying a gun in one hand and with a dog in the other.
"They were focused on a house in the middle of the street and out of our window we could see snipers leaning on cars and aiming at the top floor of the house. At that point we thought, 'oh my god, there must be someone with a gun in there' - It really looked like there was someone on the top floor they were aiming at."
The ECHO was stationed on the corner of Rutland Avenue for the entirety of the operation. Our videos were viewed hundreds of thousands of times as people tried to work out exactly what was going on. For the people of Rutland Avenue it remains bizarre that no one was inside the property. This must have been even more of a question for those living close to the house lived in by Al Swealmeen who were told to gather their belongings and move out.
Jon added: "Obviously things became very tense that evening and that night as more and more armed police arrived in our street. We could see snipers on cars and the bomb squad, as I say it was all very surreal. It was very surprising to later be told that there was actually no one inside the house.
"We couldn't square it, they had been going in and out of the house for a long time, but still felt the need to evacuate people later on. It was strange to see our friends from further down the road being escorted out with their suitcases."
The heavily armed officers remained in the street for several more hours and residents reported seeing them going in and out of the property in question. It wasn't until after 2am that the majority of the vehicles and the camouflaged, balaclava-clad armed officers left Rutland Avenue - but that didn't mean things were back to normal for the residents.
Mr Egan said: "After a couple of days of being told to stay in our homes we were allowed out, but even then we had to check in and out with a police officer who would ask where we were going and what for." It would be eleven long days until the cordon on Rutland Avenue was lifted, until police completed the searches in the property and until some sense of normality resumed for those living around it.
Superintendent Diane Pownall, of Merseyside Police, added: "I know that the incident at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital last November was shocking and distressing for the local community and communities across Merseyside.
"We responded to the incident immediately to protect and reassure the local community. The following weeks were a very challenging time but what we can take away from those weeks is how everyone stood shoulder to shoulder and met those challenges head on."
The ECHO understands the investigation has not yet been formally concluded, and Counter Terrorism Policing North West are likely to release more information publicly when that point is reached.
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