Three women and one man have been hospitalised after a suspected shooting in the London borough of Camden on Saturday.
At around 10 pm on Saturday, five men began “indiscriminately” firing gunshots into a crowd gathered for a barbeque in a communal space in Clarence Gardens, Camden.
Four people are currently being treated in a local hospital with gunshot wounds, including a 19-year-old woman, a 17-year-old woman, a 28-year-old man, and a 73-year-old woman. It is believed that their injuries are not life-threatening.
Detective Sergeant Val John-Baptiste said: “I need to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident or saw anything suspicious in and around Clarence Gardens, NW1.
“We thoroughly investigate every shooting in London – every incident and every weapon on our streets is of great concern to us. We know that Londoners feel exactly the same, and that’s why it is vital that anyone with information shares with us what they know, either directly with police or anonymously via Crimestoppers.”
A resident told the news outlet MyLondon that a “girl got shot in the back”, adding: “I saw someone walking from my balcony saying I’ve just been shot.”
The local, who declined to be named, said that he initially mistook the gunshots for fireworks as there was loud music being played.
“I’ve been in England over 70 years this has never happened. This area was lovely. We were the first family here. Look at it now.
“[It’s] the second or third time it’s happened around this area.”
The police imposed a Section 60 Order on the area, giving them more ability to use stop-and-search powers to look for possible suspects. So far, no suspects have been identified.
Despite Britain’s strict gun control laws, crimes involving firearms have been on the rise over the past five years.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in February show that 9,406 crimes were committed with firearms in the year leading to March of 2020. The number of offences has risen by 21 per cent over the past five years. To date, firearms figures have not been released yet for the year plus long lockdown.
During the same reporting time period, the ONS reported — the year leading up to the lockdown — crimes involving a knife or a sharp weapon rose by six per cent, up from 47,388 to 50,019. This is more than double the 23,945 offences recorded in 2014 when crime began to rise after long being on the decline.
Last month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he would be returning stop and search powers to police in a bid to tackle the scourge of knife crime.
Knife crime has particularly hit the capital city of London under the tenure of Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has placed priority on woke agenda issues such as statues rather than on meaningfully taking on crime.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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