A young nine-year-old girl is critically ill after inadvertently becoming a casualty of a shooting in Hackney, situated in the eastern part of London. The shocking incident happened when the girl was dining with her family in a restaurant and a gunshot was fired from a motorbike outdoors, officials reported.
In the incident, three men aged 26, 37, and 42, sitting outside the eatery, were also wounded and rushed to a medical facility for care. They are currently stable, however, one of them faces the possibility of life-altering injury.
Metropolitan Police received the call and arrived at the location on Kingsland High Street approximately at 9.20pm on Wednesday, accompanied by specialist firearms officers. According to Det Chief Supt James Conway from the Metropolitan Police, it is unlikely that the wounded girl and the men knew each other.
He further commented, “Being a child, she was undeservedly caught up in the haphazard world of gun violence.” The motorcycle thought to have been linked to the shooting was discovered in close-by Colvestone Crescent and is believed to be stolen, added law enforcement agents.
At present, the authorities are not ruling out any reasons behind the incident. Mr Conway emphasised, “We would like to get in touch with other onlookers who were around the location during the shooting. If you happened to be in the area of Kingsland High Street at the time and have any information or captured any footage on your phone or other device, we request you to share it with us. Incidents like these are seldom impulsive. Someone out there knows who is behind this shooting that has put a young girl’s life at risk.”