Until Tuesday, no parent, partner or sibling was forced to face the news their loved one had been shot dead in the streets of Merseyside for more than a year.
In the past five years, local criminals have become either increasingly reluctant to pull the trigger, or less able to lay their hands on guns, than at any point in the last two decades. In the 2021 calendar year, there were 43 shootings recorded on Merseyside, the lowest in 21 years.
So far this year, there have been 35 firearms discharges, in line with the 36 recorded at the same stage last year. To put those numbers into context, between April 2018 and April 2019, there were 80 firearms discharges in Merseyside, itself a figure that was down from 91 in 2017/18.
