A person has been rushed to hospital with a gunshot wound after an incident in Invercargill this morning.

Police responded to reports of gunshots in Kelvin St around 9.15am.

A statement from police said they were not sure how serious the injury was. But an ambulance spokesman earlier told the Herald that they had taken a person to Southland Hospital with a serious leg injury.

Cordons remain in place in the Kelvin St area and police are asking people to avoid the area.

Police are working to establish how the shooting happened, and the armed offenders squad have been called as a precaution.

A St John ambulance crew were sent to the intersection of Kelvin and Earnslaw St at 9.10am, the spokesman said.

He could not confirm how the person was injured.

Invercargill resident Caitlin Barton said she saw a man lying on the footpath as she drove to work this morning.

"He was lying flat as if he had slipped on ice and had a back injury. Lots of people were crowding around him and an ambulance came flying past me ... I didn't think it was a shooting until I saw it on Facebook," Barton said.

Residents on Kelvin St posted online saying they could see the armed offenders squad from their homes, and didn't think they were allowed outside yet.

A man at the Queens Park Golf Club nearby said he saw armed police but the scene was calm.

Police were preventing people from going down the street to the club, so he had used a side street and walked.

He wasn't worried for his safety and still planned to head out onto the green.

"Why not? No one's told us not to. No one knows what's going on."

It is not known how the shooting happened and whether anyone has been arrested.

Armed police are in the area and a local community Facebook page said the street, near the central city, is closed.

More to come.