Shots were fired outside a Westminster school and three people were injured in a drive-by shooting in Brent Monday, as the violent crime wave apparently gripping London continues apace.
London’s Metropolitan Police attended the two shootings Monday, which come despite British law making the possession of firearms and ammunition by members of the public for all intents and purposes illegal.
The first came on Kennet Road, Maida Hill in Westminster — the central London district that is home to Britain’s Houses of Parliament and many government buildings — after a gun was discharged outside a school. The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports staff who were still at the school at the end of the day were forced to take cover, with some hiding inside cupboards and toilets.
Police later confirmed evidence had been found of a firearm being discharged at the scene and said that shots had been fired. No arrests have been made.
Hours later on Monday evening, London armed response officers were called out again, this time to a shooting in Kingsbury Road, Brent. A 39-year-old woman, and two men aged 18 and 24 were taken to hospital with injuries — the woman later being discharged.
None of the injuries are thought to be life-threatening. No arrests have been made.
The attack was described as a drive-by shooting and a “gangland hit” by witnesses who spoke to the Sun newspaper. One said: “There were a couple of really loud bangs – shots – and people started screaming and panicking.
“The guy who was shot started screaming and some guys sped off in a car. I didn’t see how many — I wish I had got my eyes on the car.”
Breitbart London reported in May on the surging murder rate in Britain’s capital city, which the chairman of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee has called an “appalling escalation”. In the year to March, murder soared 44 per cent.