A woman shot dead in Old Swan is the first female victim of gun crime to die in Liverpool since the murder of Lucy Hargreaves 17 years ago.
Emergency services were called out to Leinster Road, Old Swan at around 12.40am on Sunday to reports of a woman in a back garden with gunshot wounds. The woman, who was in her 20s, was treated at the scene and then taken to hospital where she died a short time later.
Police have launched a murder investigation and appealed for information about a car seen being driven 'erratically' on Prescot Road around the time of the shooting. The victim was the first female gun crime victim in the city since the case of Lucy Hargreaves 17 years ago.
READ MORE: Paramedics fought in vain to save young woman found shot in garden
On August 3, 2005, three masked men burst into a house on Lambourne Road, Walton and shot Lucy dead. The gang then torched the house.
Prosecutors and police believe the "cold-blooded" killers may have initially thought they were killing a man called Gary Campbell, but then carried on regardless when they realised they had attacked his girlfriend.
Mr Campbell managed to rescue his baby daughter from the house fire and escape. Liverpool man Kevin Parle is wanted by police in relation to the murder. Parle is thought to have changed his appearance and might be living overseas.
Two years ago Mr Campbell told the ECHO he feared Ms Hargreaves' shooting was revenge for an incident in 1993, when a stolen car crashed and killed a boy aged four. Mr Campbell claimed he had been blamed by criminals for killing the boy even though he was not driving the car at the time.
Speaking yesterday senior detectives described the incident in Old Swan as 'very shocking.'
Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen said: “This clearly was a very shocking incident which has led to the death of a young woman. I understand how frightening incidents like this can seem to ordinary members of the public and in the coming hours and days we will be speaking to people living in the local and wider community to reassure them of the ongoing work we are doing to find the person or people responsible.
“Gun crime has no place on the streets of Merseyside and we will leave no stone unturned to bring those responsible for justice. An investigation is underway and a number of lines of enquiry are currently being investigated.
“The community, as always, are our eyes and ears and we know that there may be people living locally who saw or heard something in the early hours which may prove to be significant to our investigation.
“I would urge those people to please come forward and tell us what they know. If you live or work locally and have private CCTV or a Ring doorbell please check it to see if it captured anything which may assist us.
“Similarly I would ask taxi and delivery drivers if they were driving in the area to check their dashcam footage. We are particularly keen to find anyone who saw a vehicle being driven erratically in the area around Prescot Road.”
“Information and video footage can shared directly with the investigation team via the police public portal - Public Portal (mipp.police.uk).
“You can also contact us via social media @MerPolCC or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 22000615873.”
Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC or @CrimestoppersUK on 0800 555 111 quoting log 0030 of 21st August.
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