A man has been shot multiple times after he was chased into the front garden of a Liverpool house, which is just a few minutes’ drive away from where nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was murdered last year in an unrelated shooting.
Merseyside Police is appealing for witnesses after the 37-year-old man suffered injuries to his leg and foot in the shooting in Huyton on Tuesday evening.
Officers were called just after 9.45pm following reports a number of gunshots had been fired on Brookwood Road and a man “had been heard screaming”.
Police found the 37-year-old man injured in the front garden of a house. It is understood the man had been chased into the garden by another man, who had then fired shots at him before escaping.
The victim has been taken to hospital where he is being treated for his injuries, which are not life-threatening.
Crime scene investigators are carrying out forensic examinations at the scene and house-to-house inquiries are underway.
Detective Inspector Alyson Keenan spoke of the “heartbreaking devastation” wrought by gun violence in the streets of Merseyside in recent times.
In a separate incident, nine-year-old Olivia was shot and killed shortly after 10pm on 22 August last year when gunman Thomas Cashman chased convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee into her home in Dovecot, Liverpool.
Her road, Kingsheath Avenue, is a mere eight-minute drive from where this latest Liverpool shooting has happened.
Cashman, 34, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 42 years in prison last month.
He was targeting Nee over a drug debt when he opened fire on the street in Liverpool. Nee fled and tried to force his way into Ms Korbel’s home. Cashman continued to fire as she blocked the door and one bullet passed through her wrist and struck her youngest child in the chest.
Detective Inspector Keenan said of the most recent incident of gun violence in Liverpool: "In the last year we have all seen the heart-breaking devastation that can be caused by those who use guns on our streets and I would appeal to anyone in the community who has any information to come forward, so we can keep our streets safe.
"These people should be treated like pariahs, who are not welcome in our communities because of the harm they bring. They have no respect for other members of the public so don't deserve any respect from the communities they inhabit.
"We are relentless in our pursuit of those involved in gun crime and will do anything in our power to remove these individuals from our streets and put them behind bars.
"We are committed to tackling gun crime, but we can't do it on our own. I would urge people from the community who may have any information which could help us to contact us. Any information provided will be acted upon. Help us to put this person where he belongs - behind bars. If you have any information at all, which may help us piece together the evidence we require, please call."
Anyone who has CCTV, dashcam or doorbell footage, or any information about this incident is urged to DM police’s social media desk on Twitter @Merseypolice, or Facebook 'Merseyside Police Contact Centre' quoting reference number 1226 of 2 May. Alternatively you can call the independent @CrimestoppersUK hotline anonymously on 0800 555 111.
