Gang ‘execution’ sparks terror on bustling street

TERRIFIED families dived for cover when a young man was shot dead in a suspected gangland execution on a busy shopping street.

Dozens of people ran screaming as gunshots shattered the tranquillity of a sunny weekend afternoon.

Onlookers dived on to the ground and hid inside cafes, bars and delicatessens during the attack in Hackney, East London.

The area, a short distance from the Canary Wharf financial district, is a favourite destination for affluent young people.

Once described as being on the ‘front line’ of East London gentrification, it has seen property prices rocket, with the best family homes now fetching more than £1million.

Polices uspect three men approached the victim, named locally as Moses Federo, 25, before he was shot several times in Chatsworth Road shortly after 1pm on Saturday. The young man was seen running into a butcher’s shop asking for help before collapsing nearby in a pool of blood. He died at the scene.

One witness claimed he attempted to escape the gunmen before being trapped outside a pharmacy and shot.

Another said he heard gunshots like ‘firecrackers’, adding: ‘There was a man running away outside the shop and then about three other people came running into the shop looking terrified.

‘They told us there had been a shooting. I couldn’t believe it, as it didn’t sound like the gunshots you hear in the movies. I then saw one guy with his hood up walking past the shop very quickly.’

A beauty salon worker said: ‘Locals think it’s gang-related. I’m not from the area but they say there’s a lot of it.

‘We thought it was kids throwing fireworks outside. Then one of my colleagues whose boyfriend deals with guns went, “Oh my God, that’s a gun.” We all ran into the back and closed the door.

‘I’ve never been so scared for my life... I was really, really scared. The police came straightaway and said all the shops had closed and the area was cordoned off. I just saw people running.’

Young families move to the ‘edgy’ area where they mix with young ‘hipsters’ who enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere. But it is close to Hackney’s Lower and Upper Clapton Road, nicknamed ‘murder mile’ after a spate of attacks in the 1990s and 2000s.

A man in his mid-twenties was arrested on suspicion of murder and driving offences yesterday. A second man, who was arrested at the scene of the shooting, has been released with no further action in connection with the murder.