Met Police issue investigation update into Hackney drive-by shooting that left girl, 9, in critical condition

Hackney shooting

The Met Police has issued an update on a drive-by shooting in London which left a nine-year-old girl in a "critical condition"

PA
Georgina Cutler

By Georgina Cutler


Published: 31/05/2024

- 16:49

Updated: 31/05/2024

- 18:54

Three adults and a child suffered serious gunshot injuries

The Met Police has issued an update on a drive-by shooting in London which left a nine-year-old girl in a "critical condition".

Officers say they are now focusing on a motorbike which is believed to have been used by the offender.


Police were called to Evin restaurant on Dalston's Kingsland Road just before 9.30pm on Wednesday following the "drive-by shooting" in which an assailant reportedly arrived on a motorcycle before firing a number of shots and leaving.

At the time of the shooting the bike was displaying the registration plate DP21OXY, officers say.

Motorbike

Officers say they are now focusing on a motorbike which is believed to have been used by the offender

Met Police

The Met has confirmed that the motorbike was previously stolen in 2021 from a property in Wembley.

Investigators are asking anyone who recognises the bike to come forward and speak to police.

On Wednesday, specialist firearms officers and paramedics rushed to the scene to discover "three adults and a child with gunshot injuries".

The Metropolitan Police's Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway confirmed that three men, aged 26, 37, and 42, had been shot while sitting outside the restaurant.

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One of the men faces possible "life-changing" injuries, while the other two victims remain in a stable condition.

Conway added that the girl, aged just nine, had been eating dinner with her family inside the venue, and was an "innocent victim" of the attack.

He said that the force does not believe that the girl and the men injured were known to each other.

"Events such as these are rarely spontaneous. Someone knows who was responsible... This was a shooting that has left a little girl fighting for her life," he continued.

Blood on restaurant floorBlood could be seen on the floor of the restaurant in the aftermath of the attackPA

One witness said she had been dining at a nearby Nando's restaurant when the incident took place and had heard five or six shots and had seen a motorcyclist speeding off.

She added: "At first, everyone didn't think it was [a shooting] - it sounded like a car not working, but we were in Nando's and we just saw people running past."

Another local told the Hackney Gazette that she'd heard gunshots at approximately 9.20pm, prompting her to get in touch with her neighbour "right away" to ask if they'd heard the same.

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