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04/10/03 - Shooting victim
had criminal past
BBC News
The man killed in a drive-by shooting in Hertfordshire
had a "considerable" criminal record, police
have said. He was named on Saturday as 32-year-old David
King, who is from Stevenage and is thought to be a father
of three.
Hertfordshire Police believe King, who was shot dead
outside a gym in Hoddesdon on Friday, was deliberately
targeted.
Two masked men pulled up alongside King in a van and
opened fire with an automatic weapon - also injuring
his friend.
Detective Superintendent Steve Read, of Hertfordshire
Police, said: "People capable of carrying out this
sort of attack need to be taken out of society - it
is very important that we catch them."
King's death was followed by a further drive-by shooting
in Reading on Friday night, in which three men were
injured.
The victims were thought to have been hit by shotgun
pellets. None of their injuries were thought to be life
threatening.
Third shooting
Hertfordshire Police said King's friend had been released
from hospital and was staying at an undisclosed location.
He is helping police with their inquiries.
Assistant chief constable Jeremy Alford said the force
would be investigating King and his associates to find
a motive.
"There is not, in our opinion, a general threat to
the people of Hoddesdon, or wider in Hertfordshire,"
he said.
But police patrols were being stepped up in the town
following the shooting.
'Leafy suburbs
With the Reading shootings and the killing of jeweller
Marion Bates in Nottingham this week, concerns are growing
about the level of gun crime in the UK.
Former police chief and government drugs tsar Keith
Hellawell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was
"no doubt" gun crime was becoming more of
a serious problem.
He said although the public was becoming more used
to shootings in urban centres, rural areas were also
likely to attract criminals.
"Criminality stretches far beyond the centres
of cities. The people behind much of the serious crime
in this country hide behind respectability. They live
in leafy suburbs."
Manchester police deputy chief constable Alan Green
- who chairs a police group on criminal use of firearms
- said they were looking at changing legislation on
protection of witnesses in such cases.
"One of the areas that is of grave concern is our
ability to get witnesses to court and see them through
safely without intimidation," he said. |
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