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Girl, 7, critically injured in shooting at double
memorial service in London
Another child and four women also injured in incident
close to Euston following joint service for a mother and daughter
Aina J Khan
Sat 14 Jan
2023 20.28 GMT
A
seven-year-old girl is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after a
suspected driveby shooting outside a memorial service in north London, the
Metropolitan police have said.
A second
child, a 12-year-old girl, was taken to hospital with a minor leg injury but
has now been discharged.
Officers
also said three women – aged 48, 54 and 41 – were taken to hospital after the
incident on Saturday afternoon in Phoenix Road, close to Euston station.
Detectives
said it happened in the vicinity of a church, where a memorial was taking place
for a mother and daughter who died within days of each other. Officers said the
shots were believed to have been fired from a moving vehicle.
The women’s
injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, but the 48-year-old suffered a
potentially life-changing injury. Police later said a 21-year-old woman was
also in hospital but they were awaiting updates on her condition.
No arrests
have been made yet. Supt Ed Wells of the Met police said: “Any shooting
incident is unacceptable, but for multiple people, including two children, to
be injured in a shooting in the middle of a Saturday afternoon is shocking.
“Our
thoughts are with all the victims, but in particular with the seven-year-old
girl who is in a life-threatening condition and with her family.”
Father
Jeremy Trood was conducting the joint service at St Aloysius Roman Catholic
Church celebrating the lives of mother and daughter, Fresia Calderon, 50, and
Sara Sanchez, 20.
They died
within 25 days of each other late last year – Calderon from a blood clot after
flying back to London from Colombia, and Sanchez, who was diagnosed with B-cell
acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in May 2020, died shortly afterwards, according
to MyLondon who interviewed Sanchez in April 2022.
Sanchez,
her mother and her younger brother had travelled to Colombia last year to see
family and friends for a “final goodbye” after she went into remission but
relapsed twice. Private treatment for which the City and Islington College
student raised more than £30,000 on a GoFundMe page had also failed.
The family
had arrived back in London when Calderon collapsed in front of her children and
died at the airport on 5 November 2022.
Trood said
he had just concluded the requiem mass for the service when he heard shots
outside the church as mourners began to leave.
“They
started rushing back into the church after the incident,” he said, describing
the terror of those present. “Our prayers go out to those in hospital”.
Jaouida
Ifghallal, who was attending the service and said Sanchez had been her son’s
girlfriend, described how the occupants of a black car opened fire on people,
in an interview with MyLondon.
“We were
all coming out of the church, dressed in white, about to release some doves.
And the shooting happened as we were waiting for that.
“I didn’t
see the car coming, but there was a big detonation. I just remember a woman
falling on the floor and panic as people came out of the church.”
Responding
to Saturday’s shooting on Twitter, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is also
MP for the area, he was “deeply shocked”, and thanked emergency services for
their response.
The London
mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the incident was “deeply distressing”, and expressed
his support for those who were injured and their families.
Wells
added: “An investigation into this dreadful attack is already well under way
involving local officers and specialist detectives. I can assure the
communities of Camden and beyond that we will do everything we possibly can to
identify and bring to justice those who were responsible.”
Witnesses
or anyone who has information about the incident have been urged to call 101,
giving the reference 3357/14JAN.
Information
can also be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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