Police look at gang links to shooting
DETECTIVES BELIEVE ATTACK ON MAN WAS ‘TARGETED’ AND MAY BE LINKED TO ‘A-TEAM’
POLICE are investigating whether a shooting outside Albert’s restaurant in Salford is linked to the city’s ‘A-Team’ gang.
The M.E.N. can reveal a man blasted in the knee outside the eatery is the relative of a member of the group.
The man, in his 30s, was shot by a masked gunman in the restaurant’s car park last Sunday. It is understood the attacker, wearing a balaclava and dark clothing, approached the victim as he and a friend were on the way to his car having left the restaurant, on the East Lancashire Road, in Swinton.
Detectives say the attack, which left the man in hospital, was ‘targeted.’
The gunman fled in a silver Ford Focus shortly before 9pm.
Police patrols were increased in the area in the wake of the attack.
The ‘A-Team’ has been linked to a spate of shootings in Salford. The gang, based in the Duchy, Irlams o’ th’ Heights and Weaste, is suspected of being involved in firearms incidents across the city. A feud between the gang and a splinter group is understood to be behind tit-for-tat attacks, which began in the summer of 2014. They have included the murder of Paul Massey, 55, outside his home in Clifton in 2015.
Spanish police, assisted by detectives from GMP, arrested six people – three of them suspected ‘A Team’ members – during a swoop on in Marbella on February 16, 2016. They found a loaded gun and a weighted vest, which could have been used to sink a body.
Police suspect those arrested were a hit squad seeking to avenge the killing of Mr Massey.
Police are investigating whether the latest shooting is linked to the ‘A-Team.’
The motive for the attack has not yet been established.
Superintendent Howard Millington, of GMP’s Salford borough, said: “We are treating this as a targeted attack and don’t believe there to be any wider threat to the community. However, you will see increased patrols in the area.
“This happened in a busy location and I am hopeful someone will have seen something that could assist our investigation. If you witnessed the attack or saw anyone acting suspiciously in the area, please get in touch.”
Anyone with any information is asked to call police on 101, quoting reference number 2053 of February 4.