'Lots of guns in Bradford' claim (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

'Lots of guns in Bradford' claim

6:10am Wednesday 28th February 2007 in

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Detectives probing the chilling point-blank shooting of Skander Habib Rehman, 20, in Brackenhill Park, Lidget Green, have stressed it is an extremely rare offence.

And West Yorkshire Police figures on gun crime tend to agree.

But a friend of Skander's family suggests that guns are readily available on the streets of Bradford.

The friend said: "There are lots of guns in Bradford, they are really easy to get hold of. You can pick up a gun for as little as £100.

"It is teenagers doing the damage. They want to go out and make a name for themselves. They watch American movies and see the characters as somebody they look up to.

"Until these people get tougher sentences, it won't change. If you get caught with a gun you get two or three years in prison. When they come back out they have learned a lot more inside and they are more dangerous than they were.

"They don't care what the consequences are, it means nothing to them."

But Detective Superintendent Dave Oldroyd, who is leading the investigation, said: "This offence is extremely unusual. For something like this to happen in broad daylight in a public park is very rare.

"We are very, very concerned this offence has taken place. But I stress this kind of offence is very rare. It is a very isolated incident."

The most recent gun crime figures for West Yorkshire indicate a decrease in offences.

In the year 2005-6 there were 112 crimes in which guns were fired causing injury. In the previous year there were 217 such incidents and in 2003-4 the figure was 251. But there were four fatal shootings in 2005-6, compared to three in the year before.

Firearms offences in which injuries were caused or the weapons were used to threaten people rose from 309 in 2004-5 - itself an increase - to 347 in 2005-6, but remained at a similar level to the three previous years. But offences involving air weapons are falling.

Dr Petra Meier, of the University of Sheffield, is the principal investigator in a project which aims to develop a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of how young people get involved in gun crime.

The Modelling Gun Crime Networks project - involving seven universities, police and community action groups - is designed to establish the most effective interventions for tackling the problem.

Dr Meier said: "It's in its early stages, but we are working towards a shared understanding of gun crime.

"In Manchester, there's a strong relationship between gangs and gun crime. The established four or five gangs perpetrate half the violent gun crime that happens there. There seems to be this acceptance of guns as part of that environment.

"Most of the recent gun crime incidents seem to be surrounded by the issue of young people not feeling part of the community and wider society, but it's down to perceptions of the people involved."

There have been a number of shooting incidents in the Bradford district recently.

A man suffered a serious shotgun wound to his leg in an incident outside a house in Grayswood Crescent, Holme Wood, on New Year's Day. A man has appeared in court charged with wounding with intent and having a firearm with intent to commit an offence.

A 54-year-old man suffered an arm injury when a shot was fired through the front door of a house in Calton Street, Knowle Park, Keighley, last Boxing Day. A number of arrests have been made.

And a man suffered gunshot wounds in an incident in Shearbridge Road, Great Horton, following a fight between up to 50 people near the Wrose Bull pub in Shipley, last November.

Three men are also due to stand trial later this year charged with the murder of restaurant worker Shazad Hussain, 21, who was shot dead in his car in an alleyway off Leeds Road, Bradford, in September 2004.