"My son actually sent him a text just before he went out on the drug bust."

Mr Newberry said Constable Crews loved rugby league and was involved in all sports when he was a student at Glen Innes High.

"He was involved in polocrosse and the pony camp and just about everything as a youngster," he said.

"Me and my young fella went to the races with him a couple of weeks ago at the Gold Coast."

Search warrant

Constable Crews was involved in a raid on an apartment building in Cairds Avenue about 9pm. Officers were executing a search warrant for drugs when a number of shots were fired.

A group of people inside the building opened fire and the officer was shot, sources said.

Five people were initially arrested, while police had to negotiate the surrender of another three suspects. They were all taken to Bankstown police station for questioning.

Counter-terrori sm experts were sent to the street. There were also state protection group officers, hostage negotiators and members of the dog squad.

Bankstown was a sea of blue and red lights as police from multiple commands cordoned off an extensive area around the siege.

Police started reducing the cordon about 1am, but the street still remained blocked off this morning.

Shocked

One resident from Cairds Avenue, who did not want to be named, was shocked to hear the news, just after 11.30pm on his way home from work.

''I walk down this way every day … I'm quite a bit scared now.''

A neighbour said this morning that police had told them very little.

She said she was left terrified by last night's incident.

"I just went out on my balcony to see what was going on and my neighbour said to me 'Get down, get down, get inside.'

"It was very noisy, but we don't know what happened."

The woman, who did not want to be named, said the street was not considered safe.

"I never feel safe in Bankstown ... there seems to be a lot of crime."

A neighbour, who lives below the raided apartment, said he did not hear anything until the shots were fired.

"It was an unexpected thing that happened. I could hear shots and screaming all of a sudden."

He said he did not know his neighbours, but considered his apartment building safe.

"You don't imagine this happening. It's just everyday life, just a normal routine, but obviously [the shooting] was an exception."

Another neighbour, who also asked not to be named, said she was in the shower when she heard some screams. But she said she was not worried as "this happens all the time".

The neighbour said she was scared and unable to sleep after looking outside the window and seeing a lot of police on the street.

Another neighbour said she had lived in the street for more than 10 years and had never seen any violence there before.

"We don't even see fights on the street," she said.

Gus, who works at a nearby mixed business, said barely anyone knew what was going on.

He said: "It was crazy. There were police everywhere, helicopters, special police squads, everyone."

He said Bankstown was a safe suburb.

People on the social networking site Twitter said they had seen dozens of police cars and emergency vehicles at the scene. Several posters urged others to stay indoors and lie low.

Anyone who saw the incident or has information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

- with Paul Tatnell, Glenda Kwek, Georgina Robinson, AAP and Matt Nicholls, the Glen Innes Examiner