Gun crime 'not on the rise'
Police have reassured people in Shropshire that gun crime is not an "increasing trend" in the area - despite two shootings in the county this year. olice have reassured people in Shropshire that gun crime is not an "increasing trend" in the area - despite two shootings in the county this year. West Mercia Chief Constable Paul West said he could understand the concerns but that the area remained "a relatively crime-free part of the country". His comments came after the shooting of Daniel Maxwell, 24, of Telford, who was shot in the arm at Shrewsbury's Buttermarket nightclub in July. Earlier in the year Constable Richard Gray was killed while on duty in Castlefields. Pete Medlicott is believed to have shot the officer on May 6 before apparently turning the gun on himself after a domestic dispute. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
Police have reassured people in Shropshire that gun crime is not an "increasing trend" in the area - despite two shootings in the county this year.West Mercia Chief Constable Paul West said he could understand the concerns but that the area remained "a relatively crime-free part of the country". His comments came after the shooting of Daniel Maxwell.
The 24-year-old, of Telford, was shot in the arm at Shrewsbury's Buttermarket nightclub in July.
The police investigation has been scaled down and a 19-year-old man from the West Midlands who was previously arrested has been released from his bail obligation.
The Buttermarket shooting was the second time Shrewsbury had been rocked by gun crime this year.
Constable Richard Gray was killed while on duty in Castlefields. Pete Medlicott is believed to have shot the officer on May 6 before apparently turning the gun on himself after a domestic dispute.
Mr West, who visited the road safety policing team at Shrewsbury Police Station in Monkmoor yesterday, said: "We are very conscious that because this remains a relatively crime-free part of the country, the whole of West Mercia area and Shropshire in particular, that any major incident, such as the two referred to, which were very, very visible, people's concerns would be raised.
"The reality is that there is not an increasing trend in this area of that kind of incident.
"Sadly, one-off incidents can happen in all different parts of the country, we have had examples of terrorism such as the incident in Glasgow.
"It is not unique to our area. We all have a responsibility to be alert in these times but equally just to be aware of suspicious incidents near where we live or work.
"We have done very thorough investigations on both of these cases but we all have a responsibility to be alert, we will act upon information we do get."
Figures released in August showed gun crime has trebled across the West Mercia police force area in the last eight years. The biggest hike was between 2003/04 and 2004/05, when incidents rose from 62 to 151.