Shootings in the UK & Around the World

Locals living in high-rise block of Luton flats 'heard bangs' before police found three people 'shot' dead - as man, 18, is arrested..by Ryan Hooper

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A police car outside the property where the bodies were found as a man 18 is being questioned

Neighbours living in a block of flats where three people were found dead said they heard 'bangs' that sounded like 'gun shots'.

Detectives have launched a triple murder probe following the grisly discovery inside the 15-storey high-rise block in Luton, Bedfordshire, at 5.30am on friday.

All three were pronounced dead at the scene, leading to armed police swarming the Leabank tower block and surrounding area.

Cops have arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of murder, with Bedfordshire Police announcing a weapon has since been recovered.

The force refused to confirm what weapon was recovered, when asked by MailOnline.

However, neighbours have described hearing loud 'bangs' which they feared were gun shots.

Police were first scrambled to reports of concerns for welfare at the flat in Leabank, off Wauluds Bank Drive.

Three people were found with injuries before later being declared dead at the scene, Bedfordshire Police said.

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Bedfordshire Police said the deaths are being treated as an isolated incident.

In a press briefing this afternoon, Assistant Chief Constable John Murphy said that a weapon had been recovered during a search of the area.

'That 18-year-old man is currently in custody at Luton Police Station,' he said.

'We've also been conducting a number of searches in the area and those searches have resulted in the recovery of a weapon.

'At this stage I'm not in a position to go into the detail around the age or ethnicity or any further details about the victims while we're in the process of contacting the next of kin and our full focus at the moment is on supporting the families.'

He said the incident appeared to 'very isolated', adding: 'At this stage we are not looking for anybody else in relation to the homicide investigation.'

Neo-Nazi found with home 'armoury' guilty of terrorism offences

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqjrr845qd1o

The gun restrictions on firearms works in the UK with 29 firearm homicides in 2023 period.
This compares with over 18,874 in the USA. However there was nearly the same number of suicides from shooting in the US.
The overall number is however coming down.

Manhunt underway after 17 people killed in South Africa mass shooting..by Frances Mao and Nomsa Maseko, BBC News

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Seventeen people have been killed in a mass shooting in a remote South African town with a manhunt under way to find the perpetrators, police say.

Two homesteads on the same street in the town of Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape, were targeted, police said, with 12 women and one man killed in one location, and three women and one man at a second location.

An 18th victim is in a critical condition in hospital, the South Africa Police Service said.

The police minister, Senzo Mchunu, is expected to visit the area where the attack occurred.

Officials said the victims were relatives and neighbours in Nyathi village, Ngobozana in Lusikisiki.

South African media reported the victims had been gathered at the houses to prepare to attend a traditional mourning ceremony for a mother and daughter who were murdered a year ago.

They had been packing goods and presents, including furniture, for the event when the attack occurred on Friday night, according to the media reports.

"We heard gunshots and doors that were kicked," Nomnikelo Ndlovu, one of the residents who was able to hide during the attack, told state broadcaster SABC.

"We tried to hide and three people were shot. We are still traumatised."

In a statement, the police minister said that there had been a total of 19 people sleeping in two homes in the same yard at one of the shooting locations.

Mchunu added that there had been six survivors at that homestead - four women, a man, and a two-month-old child. A police spokesperson said earlier that the child was uninjured, but had been taken to hospital as a precaution.

There were no survivors at the other homestead.

Mchunu said a team of detectives and forensic experts, including crime scene managers from Pretoria, had been deployed "to piece all [the] evidence together in a bid to apprehend these brutal criminals".

Officials have yet to determine the motive behind the attack or make any arrests.

Regional cabinet member for community safety, Xolile Nqatha, told SABC that he hoped the critically injured man would make a "speedy" recovery, as "his recovery can help us shed more light" on the shooting.

He also suggested that the assailants may have been known to the victims.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

There were more than 27,000 murders in 2022 - amounting to 45 people per 100,000, out of a population of almost 60 million. By comparison, the US rate is six per 100,000.

Chris Kaba: MoD offers military support after armed Met officers turn in weapons..By Aoife Walsh & Joe Inwood, BBC News.

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Chris Kaba was shot through the windscreen of a car

The Ministry of Defence is offering armed soldiers to support London police after dozens of Met officers handed in their weapons.

More than 100 police officers turned in permits allowing them to carry firearms, a source told the BBC.

The Met Police said the action was being taken after an officer was charged with the murder of unarmed Chris Kaba, 24.

He died after being shot in south London last year, A Met Police officer appeared in court on Thursday.

In a statement, the Met said some officers were "worried" about how the charging decision "impacts on them".

The MoD said it received a request - known as Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) - from the Home Office to "provide routine counter-terrorism contingency support to the Metropolitan Police, should it be needed".

A MACA is offered to the police or the NHS in emergency situations - the military helped medical staff in the Covid pandemic and covered for striking border staff and paramedics last year.

The Met said it was a "contingency option" that would only be used "in specific circumstances and where an appropriate policing response was not available".

Military staff would not be used "in a routine policing capacity", it added.

The move comes after Home Secretary Suella Braverman called for a review into armed policing.

She said people "depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us".

"In the interest of public safety they have to make split-second decisions under extraordinary pressures."

She said that officers have her "full backing".

"I will do everything in my power to support them," she added.

In a letter to the home secretary, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley welcomed the review, writing that a system where officers are investigated for "safely pursuing subjects" should not have been allowed to develop.

Sir Mark said he would "make no comment" on any ongoing legal matters, but "the issues raised in this letter go back further".

He said firearms officers are concerned that they will face years of legal proceedings, "even if they stick to the tactics and training they have been given".

Previous reviews have not delivered change, he added.

"Officers need sufficient legal protection to enable them to do their job and keep the public safe, and the confidence that it will be applied consistently and without fear or favour," he wrote.

But in instances where officers act improperly, Sir Mark said the system "needs to move swiftly" rather than "tying itself in knots pursuing good officers through multiple legal processes".

Mr Kaba died after a police operation in Streatham Hill on 5 September 2022.

He was hit by a gunshot fired by a Met Police officer into the vehicle he was driving and died in hospital the following day, an inquest was told.

The construction worker was months away from becoming a father when he was shot.

His death prompted a number of protests.

Another POS removed. The next question is just why the Police Officer was named in court?

BBC reporting black communities in south London have been left traumatised by the courts verdict that PC Blake is not guilty of murdering the gangster.
Also,apparently there is a bounty of £10,000 on PC Blake's head and he is now in hiding.
The people putting up £10,000 for Blake's head,need locking up.
Luckily the Law is'nt dealing with Islam,or they would still be at the talking to community leaders stage ( imans) ,asking for forgiveness.