Chief constable says armed response units patrolling city after eight shootings in 15 days, mostly linked to criminal gangs

A string of gang-related shootings in Manchester over the past fortnight have prompted police in the area to warn that they are “very, very concerned”, and the city’s chief constable to remind the public that armed officers were patrolling in the north and south of the city.

Greater Manchester police said that there had been eight shootings in the past 15 days, at least six of which were linked to criminal gangs, according to the force’s chief constable.

Ian Hopkins said that the shootings appeared to be the result of gang members not showing “respect”, which “is utterly ridiculous and criminally reckless”.

Salford shooting: shocked locals see gang wars come to their door Read more

He added that the force had not seen an increase in the number of weapons seized in the city, suggesting the same guns were being used in multiple crimes.

Nearly a decade ago, Manchester saw the number of shootings soar to the point where the city was dubbed “Gunchester”. A shooting took place nearly every other day.

He told BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday: “Manchester is a vibrant international city and we are absolutely nowhere near the levels of gun crime in 2007-08 – when we had 146 firearms discharges. That said, we are very, very concerned, and I am very concerned, about the number of firearms incidents we have seen this year.”

Just less than 50 firearms incidents have been recorded in Greater Manchester in the last 12 months, right up to the latest two shootings on Tuesday.

In July, Paul Massey, a Salford gangster and drug dealer known as Mr Big, was fatally shot. His killing led to a spate of tit-for-tat shootings, including one in October in which a seven-year-old boy and his mother were shot on their doorstep.

A team of 60 officers are investigating the last eight shootings, Hopkins said. Four gangs are thought to be involved in six of the attacks, three of which police believe hit the wrong target.

Map of Manchester shootings Map of Manchester shootings

Rabnawaz Akbar, a Labour councillor for Rusholme, said gangs appear to have targeted the wrong house on a street in Longsight, south-east Manchester, on Boxing Day. The perpetrators are then believed to have returned on New Year’s Day to hit the “right” house on the other side of Lytham Road, a normally quiet residential street.

“Not only are they criminals but they are bloody stupid criminals,” said Akbar. “They can’t even read the right house numbers.”

He said a shooting in Chorlton-cum-Hardy on Tuesday night also appeared to have resulted in a property unconnected to any criminality being fired at by a shotgun.

A police mobile video unit van was parked opposite the house on Caldervale Avenue in Chorlton on Wednesday. A ground floor window in the semi-detached property had been boarded up.

Around 11pm the same night, officers were called to Moss Bank in Crumpsall, north Manchester, where a house had also been fired at with a shotgun.

GMP said both shootings were linked to the Lytham Road shootings.

So far two arrests have been made in relation to the latest shootings. On Wednesday, a 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in relation to a shooting on 30 December.

A 22-year-old man was shot in the chest on Salisbury Street in Moss Side, an inner-city residential area of south Manchester that has been relatively calm in recent years following concerted efforts to change the mentality since the Gunchester days. GMP is investigating the possibility that this was a case of mistaken identity.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paul Massey, Salford’s Mr Big who was shot dead in July.

On Wednesday a 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of firearms offences, violent disorder and criminal damage after a shooting on Milford Drive, Levenshulme. That incident is not thought to be linked to ongoing criminal group disputes. Nor is another in Collyhurst, north Manchester, on 28 December, when a man was dragged from a taxi by two men and shot.

Hopkins blamed the latest shootings on organised gangs. He told BBC Radio Manchester: “What we’ve seen both in Manchester and Salford is organised crime groups, that’s people who are making a living from criminality – from selling drugs, from illegal importing of goods and selling them and all sorts of other criminal activity – that have, for whatever reason, decided that when they have a dispute with each other that it’s acceptable to go and take shots at people’s houses and actually shoot individuals.

“What I would say is that this is absolutely criminally reckless and this is putting people at risk. And that’s young people in houses, which we have had in both Manchester and Salford, whether it’s innocent people who may just be passing by and get caught in the crossfire.”

Community organisations have told detectives that the latest outbreak of violence has come as a surprise. “Some of the community groups have said this is really unexpected,” said Hopkins.

“We haven’t seen the tension that we might have seen in the past when similar stuff happened. What we do know is that there has been violent behaviour between members of these criminal groups that has led them to this escalation in firearms being used. And it seems to be that it’s all about respect, which is utterly ridiculous and criminally reckless.”

The same weapons are used in multiple crimes, he said. “We seize firearms regularly across Greater Manchester and ammunition, and of course that’s very worrying. But that’s part of our routine activity, along with the National Crime Agency.

“What I would say is that we are increasingly seeing the same weapons being used time and time again, year after year. So that would show to me that there isn’t an increase in the number of weapons on the street but that these crime groups are able to access and hold on to weapons that we know forensically are being used in more than one incident.”

He said that, contrary to reports, GMP had not introduced armed patrols. He said the force’s “normal dedicated response units, where the officers are armed and have been for decades now” were being used both to reassure the community and to deter and break up criminal behaviour.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 4223 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.



