A COMMUNITY plunged into shock following Monday's fatal shooting in West Bowling will bounce back, say community leaders, despite fearing much of the good created over the past few years has been undone.

Imran Khan, a 30-year-old father-to-be was fatally wounded in a 'targeted' killing near his home in Round Street. Three people have been arrested over his death and remain in custody.

Councillor Taj Salam (Lab, Little Horton) said the death was 'tragic' but the community now had to make the tragedy into a 'positive'.

"It is terrible news and it will take people a long time to get over it. A young man has lost his life and the community is in shock. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

"There has been a lot of work carried out in the area over the past few years to bring the community together and try to encourage young people to use their energy in positive ways such as the Park Side sports centre and the Bradford Trident community projects rather than turning to violence. I feel we had come a long way since 2009 when there was a fatal stabbing and we were making very good progress. This is almost like a step backwards but the community is strong."

Coun Salam, who is also the chairman of Bradford Trident added: "There is a calm at the moment because of the shock but my next step when the dust settles is to try and pull people together such as community leaders and service providers to analyse what has gone wrong in the last five or six years. "People have to learn from this tragic incident. I was only speaking to the young man who has died on Friday evening. He was a really nice and hardworking man who was expecting his first child soon. "We, the community, want to get the message across that violence is not the way to solve issues. People don't want to see other young lads make the same mistakes. We must turn this negative incident into a positive."

Shazada Mir, who is president of Madni Masjid Mosque as well as a member of the Trident community Council, was one of the people who rang the emergency services after coming across the crime scene on his way to prayers. He echoed Coun Salam's words.

"As a community we have been working hard with schools and young people to educate them and bring people together. I feel this tragedy is a one-off, an isolated incident. This area is a welcoming society and we don't seem to have many issues. We are horrified with what has happened but we must all be positive for the future."

Imran Hussain, Labour MP for Bradford East added: “It is a terrible tragedy to see the young life of an expectant father ended in such horrific circumstances, and my thoughts and prayers go out to Imran Khan’s family.

“Ensuring the cohesion and safety of a community that has been through so much in recent years is my top priority following this appalling murder, and to that end I will be liaising with local councillors and local organisations who provide services and projects in West Bowling to see what more we can do to protect the young and vulnerable.

“We must not allow any of the positive progress that has been made so far to be reversed and I will be working with local groups to assist in this matter. As a community we are stronger together than we are divided.

“Following the identification of hotspots for knife and gun crime in Bradford, and I will be seeking to urgently meet with both West Yorkshire Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner to press the matter with them.”

Former Bradford East Lib Dem MP David Ward, who is now a ward councillor for Bolton and Undercliffe, said his former constituency would heal following this latest tragedy.

"It is a really strong area with a strong community spirit. This is a really sad incident but people will pull together and survive this. There has been a massive improvement in that area over the past few years with children's centres, faith centres, the Trident projects plus work with police, youth services and schools. A lot of progress has been made and will continue to be made despite what people think from outside."