“IT wasn’t me.” Those are the words of a dad-to-be after he was arrested by police over a terrifying shotgun drama on a Southampton estate.

Passengers watched as Daniel Beer was led off a coach by officers as soon as the vehicle had pulled up at Southampton coach station.

The arrest came the night after a shotgun was blasted through the communal door of a city tower block.

But the 21-year-old insists he was nothing to do with the incident in Meggeson Avenue, Townhill Park – because he was 200 miles away visiting a friend in Norfolk at the time.

Hours before the arrest, police had executed warrants to raid the homes of Mr Beer’s heavily pregnant girlfriend and his father in their hunt for the construction worker.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Echo, Mr Beer said he was left “shocked and upset” after a police team boarded the National Express coach to arrest him late on Thursday night.

He has claimed that the unit was armed – but last night Hampshire Constabulary insisted none of the officers were carrying guns.

As previously reported, detectives launched a manhunt after a shotgun was fired at the entrance to the high rise, spraying potentially deadly pellets through a window and across a hallway.

Residents told how they feared for their safety following the shooting, which happened at around 11.50pm on Wednesday.

Today Mr Beer, who spent 15 hours in a holding cell, has hit out at police for their handling of the situation, claiming they smashed down the door of his girlfriend Sammie Fleetwood’s home.

Mr Beer, who lives with his father in Kingsdown Way, Townhill Park, admitted that he had been “in trouble” with police before, but said he had steered clear of crime for a number of years.

He said: “I went away on Easter Sunday to visit a mate and help him build a chicken hut.

“I was coming back on the coach and tried to phone my girlfriend and my dad when I was about an hour away so I could get picked up, but they ignored my calls.

“It was not until afterwards I realised that was because the police were there.

“I was shocked and upset, and worried about my girlfriend. They didn’t even knock the door they just smashed it straight down while she was in the hallway.

“She’s pretty shaken up by the whole thing.

“It wasn’t me and for the police to do that to my girlfriend and my dad is bang out of order.”

A spokesman for Hampshire police last night confirmed that Mr Beer was arrested at the station on a coach returning from Norfolk.

The spokesman added that two warrants were executed at Southampton addresses, one of which involved armed officers.

Mr Beer has been bailed until May 22.