Oswestry pellet gun shooting victim now stable

Police are calling for witnesses to what happened to the 25-year-old at his home on Bailey Street in Oswestry town centre to come forward..

The man called himself an ambulance and was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in the early hours of Friday morning.

Medical staff called police after the man said he had been the victim of a pellet gun assault and the injuries were consistent with his claim.

Police cordoned off the passageway leading to the house, which is behind a row of shops, and were carrying out investigations inside the property.

Operations and Communications Centre Inspector Ben Smith said: "The man's injuries are consistent with the use of a pellet gun and were initially believed to be life threatening

"The man is still in hospital and he is in a stable condition now but this is a serious injury.

"At the moment he is not well enough to be spoken to by police to ascertain more details as to how he received this injury.

"So we are still trying to piece together his movements around the time he sustained the injury.

"We are keeping an open mind as to the scenario and circumstances in which he received that injury.

"But we would like to appeal for witnesses to what happened to contact police."

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman Clare Brown said: "We were called to reports of an assault just after 3am on Friday.

"The injured man made the call himself.

"Paramedics found the man had an injury to his head and he was taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital."

Staff at Polka Dot Travel, next to the passageway, said they had been shocked when they arrived at work at 8.30am on Friday to find police outside.

Anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious in Oswestry town centre on Thursday evening going into Friday morning is urged to contact police on 101 quoting incident number 78 of December 12, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org