A man in his 20s was found shot dead in a car in Birmingham yesterday in the second fatal shooting in the city in a week.
The man was found in a car with shotgun wounds just before 5pm in Handsworth. Nothing could be done to save him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Overnight, a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder as he tried to board a ferry at the Port of Dover.
He was with a woman, also 23, who was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. The pair are in custody in Kent but will be taken to the West Midlands.
A man was found with gunshot wounds in Handsworth, Birmingham, yesterday afternoon
The area was sealed off while forensic examinations were carried out and officers were speaking to witnesses who were in the area at the time.
One neighbour said: ‘It is really shocking. I am waiting to go into my house at the moment. Police are not really telling us anything at the moment.’
Detective Inspector Warren Hines said: ‘This is a tragic waste of a young life and my team will do whatever we can to bring whoever is responsible to justice.
‘Our thoughts are with the young man’s family and friends who have suffered an indescribable shock today.
Forensic officers at the scene where the man was found in a car with gunshot wounds
‘I would ask anyone with information to contact me on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.’
This latest shooting comes a week after promising entrepreneur and university graduate Abdul Rahman Abubaker, 24, was fatally shot at a street barbecue in Highgate, Birmingham, on May 15.
There have been at least four other separate shootings in the city and nearby Solihull, in the past ten days.
Latest Office for National Statistics figures showed the West Midlands force area had more than double the national average of gun crimes between 2015 and 2016 with 19 offences per 100,000 residents.
The area of Birmingham was sealed off yesterday while forensic examinations were carried out
In the Metropolitan Police area it was 18 per 100,000 over the same period, and in the Greater Manchester Police area the figure was 16.
The number of incidents involving a gun rose by a quarter between 2012 and 2016.
West Midlands Police is currently part-way through a gun amnesty – its second in six months.
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