This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Neighbours have described hearing three shots ring out in their street as a man was fatally wounded in a gun attack.



Police were initially called to a shooting in Valley Road, Wolverhampton at 9.10pm on Friday.

Minutes later, West Midlands police said the force was made aware that an injured man, believed to be in his 20s, had been driven to New Cross hospital, a few hundred metres from the scene.

The victim was transferred to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth hospital, where he died at about 2am on Saturday.

Detectives had earlier moved to quash rumours that the shooting had happened at New Cross hospital itself.

A police cordon was in place at the scene by a row of communal garages on a residential estate. Bunches of flowers were laid on a grass verge near the cordon and a candle was lit. A card inside one of the bouquets read: “RIP, big man. Sleep tight, until we meet again.”

Residents said they were shocked at the killing on their doorstep, and that the victim had grown up in the area.

A neighbour, who declined to be named, said: “He used to live here with his mother, but that was years ago and I haven’t seen him around here since then.

“It’s awful what has happened. I’m afraid there will be repercussions from this. That’s what scares me.”

Police said the murder investigation was in its early stages and that detectives were carrying out door-to-door inquiries in a bid to establish the circumstances of the attack.

A postmortem is due to take place on Sunday, and the victim’s family are being supported by specially trained officers. Extra uniformed officers and firearms teams will be patrolling the city’s streets.

The shooting followed a gun attack at a pub in Wolverhampton on 14 July that police have linked to gang violence.

Two months before that, 15-year-old Keelan Wilson was stabbed to death near his home.

Ch Supt Jayne Meir, who heads policing in the city, said: “It’s too early to say if it is linked to any other incidents, and we are keeping an open mind.”