Browse Sections

• Education
• James Chapman-Kelly
• Neil Roland
• Mancunian candidate
• Special reports

Another shooting, another tragedy

Marie Burchill and Susannah Wright
31/ 1/2008

COMMUNITY leaders were this week calling for a zero tolerance approach to gun crime following new shootings in south Manchester.

The calls came after a week in which friends said a tearful farewell to promising footballer Halton McCollin and two other teenagers lay in a critical condition in hospital following a double shooting in Withington.

The ‘gangland-style’ shooting – during which two young men, aged 16 and 18, were gunned down – took place on the evening of Tuesday, January 29, in William Hill bookmakers.

Both have undergone lifesaving surgery, but remained in critical conditions as the Reporter went to press.

Halton, 20, shot in a Stretford takeaway is the latest in a series of young men and women to lose their lives on the streets of south Manchester.

Senior figures in the community have urged the authorities to take a zero tolerance approach to gun crime.

John Leech, MP for Withington where the latest shooting took place, said: "We need to send out a strong message to the people who are involved in these crimes, and that ‘enough is enough’.

"There has to be a hard line taken against people who become involved in gun gangs and don’t turn away from them – there’s no other solution.

"We need harsher sentences and we must get the message across that gun-related crime will result in offenders getting long, stiff sentences."

Mr Leech has said this needs to be employed alongside a joint agency approach.

He said: "Police, local churches, youth services and councillors – everybody has to take responsibility and work together.

"We need local people to work with police following this incident and we want people to have the confidence to come forward if they have any information. These offenders must be brought to justice."

The heavy-handed approach has been backed by Councillor Andrew Fender in whose Old Moat ward the latest shootings took place. He said: "One death is too many. Enough is enough and we need a total crackdown on gun crime."

Reverend Sandra Woodhead, of St Paul’s Church in Withington, said: "We must work together as a community to stop these shootings. We need to do whatever we can to stop people being hurt."

David Anthony, south Manchester’s chief superintendent, said: "Gun crime will not be tolerated on the streets of south Manchester.

"We are dedicated to tackling gun crime head on and we have recently arrested nine people and taken three firearms off the streets as part of an on-going operation."