TWO SHOT IN STREET
MEN ARE SERIOUSLY INJURED AS ROW ENDS WITH TEEN GUNMAN OPENING FIRE
A TEEN gunman fired shots in the air before blasting a rival in the leg in the middle of one of Manchester’s busiest roads on Friday afternoon.
An eye-witness has described how a row between a gang of youths ended with a gun being drawn and a series of shots being fired as shoppers looked on.
Police have confirmed two men were taken to hospital with serious injuries following the shooting at about 2.30pm on Friday.
After hearing a series of ‘pops,’ most people on Cheetham Hill Road thought what they heard was fireworks.
In fact it was the sound of gunfire following an argument between a group of seven or eight teenagers in the middle of
Cheetham Hill Road, according to one witness.
The man, who declined to be named, described how the injured man managed to hobble away down the side of The Godfather Cafe along Copthall Road along with other members of the group.
He said he didn’t see where the second man was shot.
He told the M.E.N: “There were seven or eight of them. They were only kids, aged 15 or 16 all with hoods up. They were just arguing. Then one of them gets a gun out and fires some shots in the air and then he shoots one of them in the leg.
“He doesn’t fall. He’s limping and running away. They all ran away down the side of The Godfather Cafe. At first people don’t know it’s been a shooting. People think it’s fireworks. They don’t know it’s gunshots. There’s a cash-and-carry and there were a lot of people shopping.”
The man, who admitted he did not call police, said it was ‘maybe an hour’ before police arrived.
He said the area was plagued by ‘open drug dealing.’
A worker from a nearby shop said: “I heard ‘pop, pop, pop.’ I thought it was fireworks. It was only when the police arrived I realised it was shots.”
Crime scenes are also in place in Copthall Lane and Rachel Rosing Walk, the direction in which the gang ran, while a number of roads were also closed in the area, including Woodlands Road.
Police were examining CCTV from a number of businesses in the area while scene of crime officers were also conducting a thorough search of all the crime scenes.
Anyone with information is asked to call officers on 0161 856 1146 quoting incident number 1574 of 15/11/19.