Man Shot in London Fields during Hackney Council Summer Festival

A man was shot in London Fields this afternoon, as two groups shot at each other during a festival.

 The shooting happened at the junction of Shrubland Road and Forest Road.

The wounded man has sustained life-threatening injuries, the Metropolitan Police said.

According to the BBC, there was an outbreak of shooting between two groups. A BBC journalist saw the injured man was shot in the stomach.

A witness told DalstonPeople that there were two shots fired, one after another. She was in the park at the time, about ten metres away from the victim.

"Approximately 15 youths fled the scene, running through the crowds of people in the park. They ran towards the south of the park."

 

"At least one person was shot - a young man in his 20s or early 30s, shot in back or stomach area. He was still talking when he was put in the ambulance."    The witness said the victim appeared to be an "innocent guy having a picnic with his friends" and that he didn't seem to have anything to do with the gangs. 

She said: "It looked like the shot missed its target and went into the crowd, hitting this guy that didn't seem to have anything to do with the gangs."

She also said "The crowd that the shots were fired into, where we were sitting, was in a separate bit of the park to the festival. It was where everyone always sits to eat picnics. The organisers of the festival/the people performing on stage didn't even seem to realise what had happened until after 10 mins after the shooting."

 

Hundreds of families had gathered for the day-long festival, organised by Hackney Council, to preview other events to be held in the borough's parks.

The Daily Mail have some pictures of the crowds in London Fields when the incident happened. 

Mayor of Hackney Jules Pipe said: "Despite this very worrying incident, hundreds of people were able to enjoy the event in London Fields safely and without interruption."