Barber shop shooting in suspected gang feud
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A man was shot in a barber's shop in Aston, Birmingham, and two others were injured in a suspected gangland feud over the weekend.
A man was shot in a barber's shop in Aston, Birmingham, and two others were injured in a suspected gangland feud over the weekend.
The young Asian man was shot in the head and back and another man was beaten and left with a broken shoulder by a group of masked men on Saturday morning, witnesses said.
Two hours later, a third man was stabbed in a nearby street. Police declined to say whether it was a revenge attack or if the attacks were linked to gangs.
The attacks were close to where the college friends Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18, were shot and killed at a party on 2 January. Detectives said they were the innocent victims of a long-standing feud between two predominantly black, armed gangs, the Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew.
Officers also refused to say whether the attacks were linked to a shoot-out in Aston last week in which two gangs of masked men in cars riddled each other's vehicles with gunfire. It is not known if anyone was injured in that incident.
Witnesses said six masked men burst into the Rashid & Son barber shop and shot their victim while he was having his hair cut. He managed to escape and staggered across to a petrol station where he collapsed after being shot again, this time in the back.
Police have increased their presence in the area, putting more foot and armed patrols on the streets, after the attacks on the men, all Asians in their 20s. The three victims remained under armed guard in an undisclosed hospital where they were described as stable.