A police officer who was shot in Nottingham is “stable” in hospital and with his family, the city’s police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said.

The Nottinghamshire Police officer was shot after he approached two people acting suspiciously in Angel Row shortly before 04:50 BST on Sunday.

On Monday, PCC Gary Godden commended the officer’s bravery, and said work was ongoing to establish why the shooting had occurred. A search is still ongoing for two suspects, a man and a woman who fled the scene.

Godden added the officer’s injuries were “not life-threatening – it’s most likely to be life-altering”.

When asked about what the shooting meant for the officer and his return to work, Godden said: “It’s early days at the moment. We need to find out what’s happened in terms of the doctors and what they’ve done to him.

“I’m not aware of those details at this moment in time, but I will be finding out later on what the actual update is.”

The PCC added the incident highlighted the dangers of being a police officer.

“This officer was going to speak to two individuals who were acting suspiciously, and this happened,” he said.

Angel Row remained closed by police until Sunday evening, but has since reopened.

Godden said the city centre was “busy” on Monday, and urged people to continue with their daily lives.

He said there would be more police officers in the city centre to reassure people.

It has been about 20 years since a police officer was shot in the city, according to the PCC.

He said while he understood there might be concerns among members of the public around the city’s history of gun violence in the 1990s and early 2000s, he did not think Nottingham was “going back to those times”.

“Remember, this happened in the early hours of the morning, the firearm was recovered.

“So we just need to find out the ‘why’, which will happen once the investigation gets to dealing with the individuals involved,” Godden said.

The PCC urged anyone with information that could assist the ongoing investigation to contact police.

Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, added: “I know that people will be worried and asking whether this signals a return to the days of gun violence in Nottingham, but the firearm has been recovered and police have been very clear that these incidents are very rare.”

She said: “Firearms offences are down in Nottingham and are at the same levels as the rest of the country.”

Whittome said she spoke to the chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police on Sunday night, and added she understood the officer was “now out of surgery”.

The MP said the chief constable “made a point” to not only thank the ambulance crew and NHS colleagues who assisted the officer, but also the members of the public who gave the officer first aid.

She added: “It no doubt will be damaging to the reputation of the city, especially because of our past, but I think that we also saw was an extremely rare incident that was the worst of our city.

“But we also saw the best of our city. At quarter to five on Sunday morning, people coming together doing everything that they could to assist and I think that we have to take comfort in that as well.”

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