Terror at the carnival
12-year-old among wounded in street party shooting
A CHILD of 12 was among a dozen people injured after a gunman opened fire at a street party yesterday.
Police said nine victims suffered pellet wounds to their legs at an area where Manchester Caribbean Carnival’s night party was being held.
A tenth person broke a leg as he ran away. Another two revellers took themselves to hospital to be checked over but their injuries were not thought to be serious.
Five remained in hospital last night. At least one other victim is thought to be under 18.
Detectives are treating the incident, at about 2.30am yesterday, as attempted murder. The injured child was shot in front of one of their parents, it emerged last night, but officers did not know whether the weapon was a shotgun or an airgun. Claremont Road in Moss Side, yesterday remained cordoned off as forensic officers searched the area.
Empty brandy bottles and silver canisters of the party drug nitrous oxide – or ‘hippy crack’ – could be seen on the ground. Police said they don’t know whether the gun was fired accidentally ‘or because of a disagreement’.
One resident said: ‘I heard it was just one man showing off in front of his friends. He pulled a gun out and then it’s gone off and ten people have been shot.’
Winston Marshall, 41, said: ‘I heard a couple of shots and then lots of screaming.’
Another witness Abbas Khan, 32, said: ‘ People were shouting: “Gun, gun” and then running. It’s shocking someone would bring a shotgun to such a crowded party.’
Residents said the incident, in an area once notorious for gangland activity, is thought to have involved members of the area’s Somali community. Mike Bisson, chairman of the Caribbean Carnival’s organising committee, said: ‘This is nothing to do with us and it’s nothing to do with the Caribbean Carnival. ‘We hold the biggest and best Caribbean carnival outside London and it was a peaceful event and a safe event.’ But he acknowledged the street party, which followed the first day of the carnival on Saturday, had been open to anyone. Armed police rushed to the scene within a minute after reports of loud bangs. None of the injuries are thought to be life-threatening. Last night, police said seven people including a teenager had discharged themselves from hospital. No arrests had yet been made. Chief Superintendent Wasim Chaudhry, of Greater Manchester Police, said: ‘We do not know what the motive was or whether this was a targeted attack. ‘But for someone to bring a shotgun and discharge it in such a crowded place is completely outrageous. We don’t know whether this was a random incident or because of a disagreement.’
Police said 16,000 people had attended the carnival, in nearby Alexandra Park, on Saturday and no arrests were made. It continued for a second day yesterday.
Deputy mayor of Greater Manchester Beverley Hughes said: ‘Clearly this incident will have caused major concern to people in the area, not least because of the work that police, other agencies and local people themselves have done to transform Moss Side in recent years.’
Last month, a Daily Mail poll revealed that 57 per cent of people fear police officers have surrendered control of our neighbourhoods and that criminals have no fear of being caught.
Some 72 police officers are attacked every day – or one every 20 minutes, statistics reveal.
Home Office data from all 44 police forces in England and Wales found that 26,295 constables were attacked on duty in the year to this April. It is a 34 per cent rise from 2013, when 19,670 officers were attacked in uniform and a rise of ten per cent on last year, when just under 24,000 were assaulted. The Met had the most officer assaults in the past year with 3,975. West Yorkshire was second, logging 1,366 assaults, followed by Hampshire with 1,159.