Man dies after being shot in laptop robbery

A man working at a money transfer business has died after being shot in an apparent robbery for cash and a laptop.

Khurram Ashraf, 30, was blasted in the stomach after he and a co-worker were confronted by a gunman demanding he hand over the goods, a friend of the victim said.

Mr Ashraf, a part-time post graduate student originally from Rawali in Pakistan, was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary where he died from his injuries.

Police have arrested a 20-year-old man from Longsight on suspicion of murder following the shooting at about 6.20pm last night.

Mr Ashraf had worked for the past few months at Global Forex, a money transfer business run out of a terraced house on Stamford Road in the Longsight area of south Manchester.

Detective Superintendent Serena Kennedy from Greater Manchester Police, said: "Our initial inquiries have established the victim and his friends were confronted and then at some point, the weapon was fired and sadly the victim was hit. That injury proved fatal.

"I understand there will be concerns in the community at this time, and I would like to reassure people we are doing everything we can to find out what happened.

"This appears to be a tragic, isolated incident and I would appeal to anyone who has information that will help us solve this crime to come forward."

A friend of the victim said he spoke to detectives and visited Manchester Royal Infirmary last night as doctors battled to save Mr Ashraf's life.

The victim's friend, an Asian man who did not want to be named, said Mr Ashraf and another employee, a Mr Waqas, the driver of a silver Mercedes SL, were ambushed by a lone gunman as they closed the shop and left with a bag of money to get into the car.

The friend said: "Khurram was highly educated and came on a student visa, working and studying two or three hours a week.

"He was a gentleman, very nice and very polite to everyone.

"He worked there for the last two months, in the office.

"They closed the office at 6pm last night. After five minutes they got out from the shop and went to the car parked outside, in front of the office.

"One man came from the business park and put the gun into Mr Waqas, a small pistol, into his stomach. He had the bag of money.

"Khurram was on the passenger side.

"They thought it was a joke. The killer said, 'Give me the bag, give me the bag.

"Mr Waqas threw it to Khurram. The killer hit Mr Waqas with the butt of the gun in the face.

"Khurram resisted to the person who was holding the gun and that's why he shot him, two times, but one shot hit him in the stomach.

"After that he took the bag and ran away from the place.

"Mr Waqas ran after him and he put two shots to him but they missed."

The friend said he himself had worked at a money transfer business and at closing times staff did not have large amounts of money as most cash taken by the shop during the day was deposited in the afternoon before the banks closed.

He said Mr Ashraf was not married and had no children but did have a cousin in the UK.