A house linked to a shooting and an organised crime investigation has been tinned up - with a £5,000 fine in place for anyone who tries to enter it.
Knowsley Council has secured a closure order at 20 Brookwood Road in Huyton. The closure comes after incidents of criminal behaviour and anti-social behaviour associated with the property.
These incidents include a shooting on May 2. At around 9.45pm people living in Brookwood Road heard screams and found a 37-year-old man in the front garden of the house who had been shot in the leg and foot.
Police believe the man was chased into garden and shot and later arrested a 20-year-old man from the Huyton area. The same man was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm in connection to an unrelated incident on May 5. The man has been bailed and enquiries are ongoing.
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The arrest came as part of Merseyside Police's ongoing Operation Athena, which aims 'to disrupt organised crime across Knowsley and reassure communities.'
The closure order on the house, which has been made under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, was issued by Liverpool Magistrates Court on Friday 26 May 2023 and was granted to prevent further incidents of behaviour, disorder or nuisance from continuing, recurring or occurring.
The order remains in place until August 25 2023 and means that any unauthorised person is banned from entering the property. Failure to comply with the closure order could result in up to six months imprisonment, a fine of up to £5000 or both.
A Knowsley Council spokesperson said: “The action we have taken to secure a closure order clearly demonstrates that we will take robust action against those blighting our communities.
“Anti-social and criminal behaviour have no place here and working with our partners, we will continue to take action to address the issues facing our residents and communities.”
Detective Inspector John Mullen from the Firearms Investigation Team said: “Our enquiries into the injury shooting on Tuesday May 2 remain ongoing. We have arrested a 20-year-old man from Huyton on suspicion of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and he has been given conditional bail pending further enquiries. Although we have made this arrest, we are still appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
“In the last year we have all seen the 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.
“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. You can report any information to our contact centre via 101 or the Merseyside Police website. You can pass information on anonymously via crime stoppers on 0800 555 111”.
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