Separate shootings in Sheffield leave two men badly injured

One of the victims, thought to be in his thirties, suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder which left him in a “serious” condition in hospital.

Detectives were last night trying to piece together the events that led to him being shot and to establish a motive.

He arrived at Sheffield 
Children’s Hospital around 4.55am and was taken to the Northern General Hospital for treatment.

A police spokesman said: “Detectives are currently working to establish the circumstances of the incident, although it is believed it occurred in the London Road area of Sheffield.”

The second incident happened just after 3am when emergency services were told of a man with a gunshot wound at Halfway Gardens, in the Halfway area of the city.

They found an 18-year -old on a grassed area with a gunshot wound to his abdomen and he was taken to hospital. Again his injuries were described as “serious”.

Investigators believe the shooting was a targeted attack and have appealed for witnesses to contact them, as detectives continued their investigations last night.

The shootings are a blow to 
the force’s efforts to control gun crime in the city, which have 
been successful in the last few years.

Officers have targeted gangs and focused on prevention 
work, including the Guns and Knives Take Lives programme, to prevent gang-related violence and feuds.

There is no suggestion at this stage that the injured men had gang connections but previous shootings – some of them fatal – have involved gangs from various parts of the city.

Prevention work has helped South Yorkshire Police reduce firearms offences by 72 per cent over the last six years, down from 409 incidents in 2005/06 to 113 in 2011/12.