Birmingham shooting: Man shot dead and two others injured in rush-hour attack
Incident took place on busy road outside primary school during evening rush hour
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Residents were left feeling “sick” after a 23-year-old man was shot dead outside a primary school during rush hour in central Birmingham.
Two other men aged 20 and 19 were also injured in the attack in the Ladywood area of the city and were taken to hospital, but their injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
The shooting happened on the busy St Vincent Street West shortly after 5pm on Tuesday – just yards from the classroom windows of St John and St Peter’s CE Academy, where children had been studying only a couple of hours earlier.
On Wednesday, a blue tent was thought to be covering the car the victim was said to have been sitting in, along with two other men, when the attack happened, opposite a row of shops.
Another dark sheet could be seen next to a tree by a low wall 20 metres away from the tent, where it is thought the victim collapsed.
West Midlands Police said no arrests have been made and “reassurance patrols have been stepped up in the area” while they continue to look for those responsible.
Witnesses said the victim had recently celebrated the birth of a new baby.
Marie Deehan, who knew the 23 year old, described the moment another vehicle pulled up beside the car he was said to have been in before a succession of shots rang out.
She said: “A car came down the road and they had the window down and they started shooting.
“The guy who got killed, he ran as if to jump the wall I was standing in front of.
“They were firing from the car, and they come out the driver’s side.
“He ran towards the shops, towards the chemist and then he was down.”
She described the three attackers as male and wearing balaclavas and said the other car appeared to have been struck by at least one bullet.
Describing the victim, Ms Deehan said: “He was never in trouble, and he always said hello.
“He’s got a very young baby, a few weeks old. I feel so sick – he always says ‘hello’.”
She added that she came across another man, who had been in the same car as the victim, sitting down behind nearby buildings, trying to stem the bleeding from a head wound.
Another woman, who had collected her daughter from the school that afternoon, said she was standing at a nearby bus stop when there was a shout of “someone’s been shot”.
The mother, who declined to be named, said: “I took my kids back to the house and then we came running to see.
“He [the victim] had been shot in his side, from what I saw, and he was lying there by the tree.
“People came out of the shops to help, and they were trying to stop the blood.”
She described the victim as a “quiet, calm boy”, who had just celebrated the arrival of a baby a few weeks previously.
A spokesman for All Saints Multi-Academy Trust, which runs the school, said staff would be in touch with parents with further information on when it would be reopening.
West Midlands Police said a post-mortem was due to be carried out on the victim.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police via Live Chat at west-midlands.police.uk between 8am and midnight, or call 101 any time quoting log number 1754 of 7 May.
Crimestoppers can be called anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Additional reporting by Press Association