Gun Incident Summary

MARCH 2008 - SUMMARY

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The majority of the shooting incidents that resulted in fatal or serious injuries occurred in London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. However, other types of gun incident reported in March, including most of the armed hold-ups, most airgun incidents and most of those involving imitation guns, occurred outside the main metropolitan areas of England.

Gun Deaths and Injuries - There were a number of shooting deaths in March. Seven, all of male victims, were being treated as murder: these occurred in Lydden (Kent), Ilford (east London), Brixton (south London) (the victim was a teenager), Tipton, Whitmore Reans and Newtown (all in the West Midlands) and Blyth (Northumberland).

Two men died from gunshot wounds in apparent suicides in Bremhill (Wiltshire) and Eastbourne (Sussex).

In London other victims were injured in shooting incidents in Harlesden (victim critically hurt by a shot to the head), Ilford (a double shooting in which the other victim was fatally wounded), Hackney (a teenage victim who was critically injured), Camberwell (the victim was also a teenager), Streatham (on a bus) and Wandsworth (at a bus stop). In Greater Manchester victims received gun injuries in attacks in Tyldesley, Baguley and Salford (where two people were injured in a pub). Other victims received gunshot injuries in incidents in Blyth (Northumberland) (a double shooting in which the other victim was fatally wounded), Gateacre (Liverpool), Aston (Birmingham) (another double shooting) and in Swansea. All the victims were male except for two women victims who were injured in the double shootings in Blyth and Salford.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - Robberies and attempted robberies on banks in which a gun was likely to have been involved occurred in Ledbury (Herefordshire), Worcester, Mildenhall (Suffolk - the robbers were armed with a stun gun) and East Horsley and Ashtead (both in Surrey - the raids may be linked). A robbery on a bank in Brighton was stopped by an off-duty police officer. Post offices were robbed at gunpoint in Brentwood (Essex), Sunderland and Dyffryn Rhondda (South Wales).

Three raids by armed men on bookmakers in Dorking, Thames Ditton and Ewell (all in Surrey) may be linked. A bookmakers in Kitts Green (Birmingham) was robbed by two men with a handgun, and two female staff at a bookmakers in Glasgow were left shaken after another robbery. A man from Borehamwood (Hertfordshire) has been charged in connection with a series of armed robberies on bookmakers across the South East.

A travel agents in Consett (County Durham) was robbed by two men with a firearm. A garage in Melton (Suffolk) was raided by a man armed with a silver revolver, and another man tried to rob a garage in Northampton whilst armed with an imitation firearm (see below).

Robbery attempts were made by gunmen on shops in Hellesdon (Norfolk), Shenstone (Staffordshire), St Ann's (Nottingham - two teenagers have been charged with armed robbery and possession of an imitation firearm (see below)) and Portsmouth.

Delivery drivers were threatened in Ormesby (Middlesbrough) (robbers were armed with a stun gun), Preston, Scotter (Lincolnshire) (a post office driver was kidnapped) and St Mellons (Cardiff). A taxi driver was robbed of his takings at gunpoint in Whiteley (Hampshire).

A hotel in St Albans (Hertfordshire) was robbed by an armed man. Staff at a bingo hall in Feltham (west London) were held up at gunpoint. A club steward was assaulted by a gunman during an attempted robbery in Platt Bridge (Lancashire).

A man was held up and robbed at gunpoint in a street in St Albans (Hertfordshire) and a teenager was robbed in a park in Portsmouth.

Other Incidents - A man was charged with three counts of attempted murder of police officers after shots had been fired at them in Manor House (north London)

An 11-year-old fired a loaded handgun at a car in Smethwick (West Midlands) after his three-year-old brother had found the gun in the family's garden.

Four men were arrested after a fully loaded handgun was discovered in a pub in Manchester. Three men were arrested in Lincoln in connection with drugs and firearms offences. A man was arrested in Carlisle on suspicion of possessing a firearm. Another man was arrested regarding firearms and other offences in a high-security operation in Ponteland (Northumberland).

A man fired a gun outside a nightclub in Milton Keynes, a gun may have been discharged after a fight outside a community club in Skelmersdale (Lancashire) and a gun was fired at the back of a nightclub in Glasgow. Shots were reported to have been fired in a street in East End Park (Leeds). A man was charged after reports of gunshots being fired in Welwyn Garden City (Hertfordshire) and three men were arrested after an incident in Derby when a flat window was broken. There were unconfirmed reports that a train was shot at near Marks Tey (Essex). A firearm was set off and smashed a window in Burnley (Lancashire).

A driver in Yalding (Kent) had a large handgun pointed in his face by the driver of another vehicle.

Firearms were recovered from a house in Hamworthy (Dorset) after a woman's body was found after a fire.

Gun Finds and Thefts - Three firearms and a quantity of ammunition were seized in Bradford during a drug operation. Drugs and a number of imitation guns and an air rifle were seized at a site in Neasden (north west London): two men were arrested.

A shotgun was found at the bottom of a canal in Bude (Cornwall) during engineering work.

Two shotguns and cartridges have been stolen from a house in Meols (Wirral).

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - A man found guilty of murdering a pregnant woman in Battersea (south London) by shooting her in the head has been given a minimum sentence of 30 years in jail.

A coroner ruled that a man who in January 2008 shot his mother-in-law dead in Gustard Wood (Hertfordshire) and then committed suicide in Markyate (also in Hertfordshire) used a shotgun he stole from the gun club where his body was found.

Two men have been given minimum sentences of 16 years after a teenager was left with a bullet lodged in his brain after a shooting in Canning Town (east London).

Two men have been jailed for 15 and eight years after police found a number of guns at a house in Haydock (Lancashire).

A student caught with a loaded revolver in Hackney (east London) was jailed for 5 years.

A husband who attacked his wife with a stun gun in Edinburgh has pleaded guilty and been fined £660.

A man has been jailed for eight years and six months after armed raids on a money exchange in Glasgow and a bank in Troon (Ayrshire).

A man who had been armed with a silver revolver (it is still to be confirmed whether the gun was real or an imitation) when he attempted to rob a woman driver in Linthorpe (Middlesbrough) has pleaded guilty.

After being arrested in Childwall (Liverpool) during a targeted gun crime day last year a man has admitted drugs and firearms charges. A man from Wilburton (Cambridgeshire) is likely to receive a long jail sentence after he admitted possessing a sawn-off shotgun without a licence. A man from Jedburgh (Scottish Borders) was jailed for three years after a handgun was found at his home. A former police officer from Chatham (Kent) was convicted of a number of offences including possession of a firearm and has been jailed for seven years.

Airguns - Too many people are still being targeted by airgun snipers. The following attacks were reported in March:

A man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a teenager was shot with a pellet gun in Broomhall (Sheffield)

A 15-year-old was hit in the eye with an airgun pellet in Calne (Wiltshire)

A woman was apparently shot with an airgun while walking in Whitby (North Yorkshire)

Two people were hit with shots from an air rifle outside a leisure centre in Newton Abbot (Devon): another victim later revealed she too had been hit at the same location in December 2007

A man was hit in the head by an air rifle shot fired from a passing car in Ironbridge (Shropshire)

A teenager was hit in the leg with an air rifle pellet in Wombourne (Staffordshire)

A fireman was hit in the back with an airgun pellet in Hartlepool

A parking warden was shot in the hand in Edinburgh

A postbox was closed after a postman was shot at with an airgun in Hartlepool.

An 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of threats to kill after an incident in Shipham (Somerset) where an air weapon was recovered.

A member of the public was threatened in a street in Watford (Hertfordshire) with an air pistol. A teenager was grabbed around the throat and threatened with what appeared to be an airgun in a park in Redditch (Worcestershire).

Advertising hoardings were damaged by airgun pellets in Market Harborough (Leicestershire). Windows were broken, probably by air rifle pellets in Exmouth (Devon). A woman in Lydiate (Lancashire) has described how a pellet from an air rifle or BB gun shattered her living room window. A 19-year-old was arrested for firing an airgun at a neighbour's window in Ipswich. A gunman shot out windows in three houses and a church in Alloa and Tullibody (Clackmannanshire).

Air rifles were seized in two separate incidents in Kent, one after men were seen carrying a weapon in woods in Tovil, the other after a man was spotted shooting birds near a children's play area in Gillingham. A man was arrested on an airgun charge after a raid on a hostel in Inverness.

Convictions - An 18-year-old from Chesterton (Staffordshire) who aimed an air rifle at a 14-year-old and shot him between the eyebrows pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. A 20-year-old who hit a pregnant woman when he fired air rifle pellets from his bedroom window in Sneinton (Nottingham) has been sentenced to four years in youth custody. A man who admitted his part in a melee in Bacup (Lancashire) in which a girl was hit with an air pistol pellet was given a six month suspended jail sentence.

A man who threatened a girl he had dated briefly with an air rifle and a sword in High Green (Sheffield) was given a 12-month sentence in a young offenders' institute. Another man has been put on two years' probation for pointing an air rifle at a woman in Strathaven (Lanarkshire).

A man from Dudley (West Midlands) has admitted drug offences and possessing an air rifle.

Imitation Guns - Police and trading standards officers continue to try and enforce the measures in the Violent Crime Reduction Act which ban the sale of imitations guns. Imitation guns were recovered from traders in Salford and Bolton. A newspaper reported how a 12-year-old schoolboy was still able to buy a replica gun from a stall in the MetroCentre in Gateshead.

A three-year-old boy was shot in the face with a BB gun as he was walking home with his mother in Birch Green (Lancashire).

A man who approached people in Paddington (central London) brandishing a firearm has been charged with attempted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm.

Two teenagers have been charged following an armed robbery in St Ann's (Nottingham) in which it appears an imitation firearm was involved. A man was charged after attempting to rob a garage in Northampton whilst armed with an imitation gun.

A 17-year-old was arrested after brandishing a handgun-shaped cigarette lighter in a burger bar in Southend (Essex), and a man was charged after he brandished an imitation firearm on a bus in Ipswich. Four suspects were arrested in Kirkdale (Liverpool) when a ball bearing gun and other weapons were found at a house after teenagers were seen with a gun. A 15-year-old was arrested at East Grinstead (Sussex) and an imitation firearm recovered after a passenger was spotted with a gun on a train.

Police in Hyson Green (Nottingham) seized a stun gun disguised as a mobile phone: two men have been charged with various offences including possessing an imitation firearm.

A four-year-old's toy gun sparked a major armed police operation in Worle (Somerset).

A Dunblane man had his replica guns removed by police after a minor disturbance at his home.

A gun, probably a BB gun, was found in a hedge in Northampton.

Imitation guns were found during a police operation in Dundee flat, although no one was arrested.

Two ball bearing guns were discovered in Avonmouth in waste paper collected from Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

Convictions - A man who tried to rob a store in Splott (Cardiff) whilst armed with a BB gun has been jailed for two and a half years. Two teenagers, members of a gang of drug dealers, were detained for three and four years for taking part in a robbery in Newsome (Huddersfield) when armed with an imitation gun.

An 18-year-old is waiting to be sentenced after threatening a woman in Guisborough (Cleveland) with a ball-bearing gun. One of two teenage boys who robbed a group of friends in Queensbury (Bradford) was probably armed with a ball-bearing gun: the two have been given custodial sentences of two and a half and two years. Two of three teenage robbers (aged 14 and 15) who used ball-bearing guns and a knife to terrorize holidaymakers and rob in Southwold (Suffolk) have been given 12-month referral orders.

A man who aimed an imitation firearm (an antique shotgun) at police called to a domestic incident in Coleview (Wiltshire) has admitted actual bodily harm and common assault. In another incident involving the police, a man who pointed a ball-bearing gun at an officer's face in Darwen (Lancashire) has pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

A 17-year-old was given an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to offences relating to his firing a ball-bearing gun in the direction of a park in Gourock (Renfrewshire). Another 17-year-old was ordered to be of good behaviour after being caught with a BB gun and ammunition in Greenock.

A man who pulled out an imitation gun in the grounds of a hospital in Dumbarton after being confronted by two police officers was placed on probation for a year and order to carry out 120 hours of community service (see January 2008 Incidents).

Incidents Involving Animals - The catalogue of shootings of animals and birds got even longer in March with attacks on cats being the most frequently reported.

Airgun injuries to cats, some of them fatal, were reported from Aberdeenshire, Gwent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Surrey, Tyneside and Wearside.

A show horse was shot with an airgun in his stables in Radcliffe (Lancashire). A lamb was killed with an airgun in Clyst St Mary (Devon).

Attacks on swans continue to occur frequently. An injured swan that was found in the Dulais Valley (South Wales) had air rifle pellets in its neck. Three men have appeared in court charged with shooting and killing 29 swans whose bodies were found buried in a pit in Bedfordshire. Geese were also the victims of air rifle attacks in Welwyn Garden City (Hertfordshire) and Moston (Greater Manchester).

A rare peregrine falcon found in St Lawrence (Isle of Wight) had been shot with an airgun and also had earlier shotgun wounds. A buzzard died after being shot with a shotgun in Potcote (Northamptonshire).

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