Shocking video shows a man lying in a London street yesterday afternoon amid claims he may have accidentally shot himself with his own gun.
The man died outside a Lloyds Bank in Sydenham, south London shortly before 4pm yesterday afternoon. Police say they are still investigating how he was injured but witnesses say there was an altercation before he accidentally shot himself with a shotgun.
Video recorded by a stunned local resident shows a masked man crouched over the victim, shouting: ‘He’s shot himself – he’s f***ing shot himself’.
He and two other men then run off when a witness appears and calls the emergency services.
The Sydenham shooting was one of three violent deaths in the capital in just 12 hours yesterday. A woman was later stabbed to death before a man was shot dead in Kentish Town in the north of the capital. None of the three deaths are believed to be connected to each other.
Video has emerged of the aftermath of a shooting in Sydenham, south London yesterday. Witnesses claim the man was killed when his own gun went off accidentally
A man is seen laying next to a car with a smashed windscreen. A masked man shouts: ‘He’s shot himself’ before he and two others run off
In Sydenham, police were given extra Section 60 Stop and Search powers to help them track down suspects and prevent any further violence.
The cordon remains in the place at the scene this morning, with police standing guard, and a blue tent has been set up at the spot where the man was found.
A shopkeeper on the high street said: ‘A group of guys were sitting in a car by the bank and a big guy came up to them with a shotgun.
‘They all got out of the car and ran so the guy decided to damage the car with the back of the gun.
‘As he was hitting the windows the gun went off and he shot himself – that’s what we’ve been told.’
There are, however, differing witness statements on how the man came to suffer his fatal injuries.
A 56-year-old woman living nearby said: ‘The bullet bounced off a car window. You can see on the car window where the bullet bounced off it.
‘After it happened, the boy he came to shoot stood there filming him.’
This is the scene where the man was found with gunshot wounds in Sydenham yesterday
Police remain at the scene as detectives attempt to work out how the man was injured
Another resident said the sound of a gun going off was ‘unmistakable.’
He said: ‘I didn’t see anything but I heard the noise – it’s unmistakable. You don’t expect that do you? It’s quite shocking.’
Another local shop keeper said: ‘I was in the shop at the time and heard a loud bang. It wasn’t until a few minutes later when the man next door came and told me what happened and I saw all the police outside.’
A shopkeeper on the high street also said that he and his colleague had also heard the victim had accidentally shot himself.
‘A group of guys were sitting in a car by the [Lloyds] bank and a big guy came up to them with a shotgun.
‘They all got out of the car and ran so the guy decided to damage the car with the back of the gun.
‘As he was hitting the windows the gun went off and he shot himself – that’s what we’ve been told.’
Police and forensics discuss the incident that took place yesterday in Sydenham, Lewisham
Witnesses said the man had attacked a car on the high street before his gun went off
A Met Police spokesman said: ‘One man has been arrested in connection with the investigation and remains in custody at a south London police station.’
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Leonard said: ‘We are still in the early stages of the investigation and our enquiries into how the man came to be fatally injured continue.
‘However, one hypothesis is that the man unintentionally discharged a firearm resulting in his fatal injury.’
In response to the incident, Ellie Reeves, Labour MP for Lewisham West and Penge, tweeted: ‘Shocked and saddened to learn of the fatal shooting in Sydenham this afternoon.
‘My thoughts are with the victim and their family. This violence has no place in our community.’
On Thursday, Perry Jordan Brammer, 15, died after suffering multiple stab wounds during an attack in broad daylight the week before.
A 21-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of Friday morning on suspicion of murder after the attack in Tottenham on August 30.
A second man, aged 25, was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and both remain in custody in a north London police station.
The same week, Santino Angelo Dymiter, 18, was fatally stabbed in an attack in Chadd Green on August 26.
Police and ambulance crews at the scene on Syndenham Road yesterday after the man died
Amrou Greenidge, also 18, died after being deliberately rammed off his bike by a car in Fulham before being attacked as he lay in the street.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to ‘come down hard on crime’ and wants to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said: ‘I want to see knives taken off our streets. We have done it before, more than ten years ago, when London faced an identical spate of knife crime and violence at the beginning of my first term as Mayor. We can do it again.
‘I want to drive down the murder rate and youth violence. With the help of my then Deputy Mayor, Kit Malthouse, we did it before. Kit is now Policing Minister, and we will do it again.
‘I want us to close down the evil ‘county lines’ drugs gangs that have done so much to spread knife and gun crime to hitherto innocent towns and communities, and I want the key gang members arrested and put away. We did it before and we can do it again.’
Anyone with any information is urged to call police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
