A drive-by shooting at a church memorial service in London that left four women and two children injured, including a seven-year-old girl still fighting for her life, may have been linked to a Colombian drug cartel.
The memorial service in Euston, London was for Fresia Calderon and Sara Sanchez, the wife and daughter, respectively, of Carlos Arturo Sanchez-Coronado, who was extradited from Colombia to the United Kingdom and imprisoned for crimes connected to the Colombian Cali drug cartel in 2009, according to a Telegraph report.
Police have declined to make a connection between the cartel and the shooting, which has left a 48-year-old woman with “potentially life-changing injuries” and a seven-year-old girl in “life-threatening” condition, also injuring three women aged 21, 41, and 54 and a girl aged 12, but the funeral’s links to Sanchez-Coronado, have fueled widespread speculation.
Sanchez-Coronado is himself believed to have died last year, aged 56, after completing his British prison sentence and returning to Colombia.
“Four women, aged 21, 41, 48 and 54, were taken to central London hospitals. Thankfully their injuries were assessed as non-life threatening. The 48-year-old woman has sustained potentially life-changing injuries,” said Superintendent Jack Rowlands on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, recounting the incident.
“Two children were also injured. A 12-year-old girl sustained a leg injury. She was treated at hospital before being discharged [on Saturday] afternoon. She is expected to make a full recovery.
“A seven-year-old girl was more seriously injured. She remains in hospital in a stable but life-threatening condition, and our thoughts are with her and her family.”
The police officer added that it was believed that the “suspects discharged a shotgun from a moving vehicle, which was a black Toyota C-HR, likely a 2019 model or similar.”
One 22-year-old man has now been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the case, according to reports, but no name, information about his national and ethnic background, or physical description beyond his age and sex has been disclosed as of the time of publication.
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