A woman who was gunned down on Christmas Eve was on a night out with her friends before the murder.
Merseyside Police confirmed today that the 26-year-old woman fatally shot at the Lighthouse Inn in Wallasey Village was out with friends at the time. Officers were called to the scene at 11.50pm on December 24 after reports of a gun being fired, with four other men being injured in the incident.
Detective Superintendent Sue Coombs announced that a 28-year-old man from Beechwood was in "critical condition" after being hit with a bullet. It was also revealed that a 22-year-old man suffered an injury to his legs, a 24-year-old man sustained an injury to his hand and a 33-year-old man suffered an injury to his wrist.
READ MORE: Neighbour describes moments after fatal shooting as he watched from his window
During the press conference at Merseyside Police headquarters, Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims also made an urgent appeal for information, with a dark-coloured car, thought to be an A-Class Mercedes, seen being driven away shortly after the shooting.
Det Supt Coombs said: “No family should have to be faced with this ordeal at any time but at Christmas, which should be a time of peace and celebration, it makes is so much harder to bear.
“Our specially trained family liaison officers are supporting the family at this tragic time and we are determined to find those responsible.
Full police statement at a press conference
“The investigation is still in the early stages and we are trying to establish a motive and the circumstances surrounding this callous and cold blooded shooting.
“We believe the gunman fired shots at the front entrance to the pub. Minutes later a dark coloured car, possibly an A-Class Mercedes, was seen to leave the pub car park. We are particularly keen to speak to the driver of that car and ask anyone who may have seen it to contact us immediately.
“We will not rest until we find the people responsible for this shooting and I would appeal to anyone who has information or believes they captured something significant on their dashcam, doorbell camera or mobile phone to contact us.
“Our investigation will rely heavily on information we receive from the public and I urge members of the local community, who have any information which could help us, to get in touch so we can bring those responsible for the horrific murder of a young woman at Christmas to justice.”
In a statement police confirmed that at this stage they did not believe the woman to be the victim of a targeted attack.
The murder rocked the village, with the pub still cordoned off today. One neighbour told the ECHO earlier today: "We were watching TV last night just having a normal Christmas Eve really and heard some loud bangs, obviously it was gunfire and quite shocking. My wife thought it was fireworks but it did seem to be quite an unusual sound and it didn't appear to be fireworks.
"We just kept an eye out the window and after a minute or two we started seeing people moving this way. Not people running away or anything but congregating towards this end and after that, it just continued, there were more and more people coming this way.
"After about four or five minutes we started hearing sirens, so we knew at that point it was something bad. It was just a lot of police activity, lots of things going on in this vicinity here outside the pub."
Local councillors Ian Lewis, Lesley Rennie and Paul Hayes issued a joint statement on Christmas Day.
It said: "We are shocked by the shooting at the Lighthouse pub in the heart of Wallasey Village on Christmas Eve.
"Today, instead of celebrating Christmas, families are grieving and our wider community is in shock.
"Taking weapons into a crowded, family pub on Christmas Eve shows that the person or people responsible are without conscience.
"Our immediate thoughts are with those families and also with the staff and customers who witnessed last night’s terrible events.
"We urge anyone with information, and who like the rest of us is appalled at their actions on Christmas Eve, to act now.
"Do not leave it to others to help take those responsible, and their weapons, off our streets."
Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC or @CrimestoppersUK anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting log 1044 of Saturday 24 December.
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