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London shooting: Two injured after 'six shots fired' on Islington street

The latest incident comes amid concerns over wave of violent crime in capital

Saman Javed
Friday 21 September 2018 12:16 BST
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Crime scene in Islington, London shows bullet hole in car window

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Two people have been injured after a gunman opened fire on a north London street before fleeing in a getaway car.

Armed police officers arrived and witnesses reported people running from the scene after several shots were fired by an unknown suspect on Essex Road, Islington, on Thursday night.

The suspect fled on foot before getting into a vehicle, the Metropolitan Police said.

A 34-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man suffered minor injuries as a result of the incident, which are thought to have been caused by shattered glass.

Images on social media appeared to show a bullet hole in the window of a bathroom shop, while a bus was also damaged in the incident.

One Twitter user who said he was on a nearby bus at the time, said he heard gunshots just after 9:30pm.

Another said they heard “six shots fired”.

The road was cordoned off and police officers remained at the scene into the early hours of Friday morning. Stop and search powers were also implemented.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “A bus sustained minor damage in the incident. The unknown suspect fled on foot.”

The woman was taken to hospital for treatment to a hand injury, while the man was treated at the scene by the London Ambulance Service.

The latest incident comes amid concerns over a wave of violent crime in the capital.

On Thursday, mayor of London Sadiq Khan unveiled plans to establish a new Violence Reduction Unit in the capital, which is modelled on a long term programme in Glasgow.

Mr Khan has awarded £500,000 to establish the new plan in which violent crime is to be “treated as a public health issue” in a bid to work to prevent stabbings and shootings.

The unit will be tasked with tackling problems like poverty, social alienation, mental ill-health and other drivers of violent crime, using health and justice data to identify risk factors in children’s lives.

No one has been arrested in connection with Thursday night’s incident.

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