Reuters
Thursday, December 19, 2002; 10:31 AM
By Michael Holden
London police Commissioner Sir John Stevens told reporters.
Stevens was speaking as gun crime rocketed in the capital with gangsters more readily shooting rivals and the police. Most shootings are related to drug-fueled turf wars between Jamaican-based "Yardies" and, increasingly in some areas, Turkish and Kurdish gangs.
Police say there have been 200 shootings in the last eight months, compared to 171 in the same period last year, with 22 murders. Last year there were 38 fatal shootings compared to just 19 in 1992. Officers are now seizing an average of 144 guns every month.
As if to highlight Stevens' fears, two unarmed policemen were shot at in the early hours of Thursday as they pursued a suspect in the north London district of Islington, where Prime Minister Tony Blair used to live.
Two weeks ago in the same area, a policeman was shot in the stomach following a chase and is still in hospital. That same day four plain-clothes officers were shot at when they approached two suspected drug dealers.
"The threat to officers must not be underestimated.
We have identified some worrying trends in gun-crime in London that are
giving us serious cause for concern -- both the threat to the public and
our own officers," Stevens said."
Extract from News Observer
Thursday, December 19, 2002 3:25PM EST
Back from Afghanistan, Marine shoots would-be carjacker
The Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala.(AP) - A Marine sergeant based in North Carolina who served in Afghanistan earlier this year shot and killed a would-be carjacker.
Sgt. James C. Lowery, 22, returned fire after being shot in the face in the drive-thru lane of a fast-food restaurant. He was listed in fair condition Thursday at a Montgomery hospital. His father, James Eugene Lowery, said the bullet hit his son in the top left cheek and stopped near his voice box.
"He comes back from Afghanistan safe and whole. Then he comes home on leave to have rest and peace and this happens," the father said.Police said Lowery got out of his Chevrolet Suburban when approached by a gunman in the drive-thru lane of a McDonald's restaurant Tuesday night. The gunman shot Lowery, who was then able to get his .45-caliber pistol from the car and shoot his assailant multiple times. Dead at the scene was Thaddeus Antone, 19, of Montgomery.
The fatal shooting is viewed as self-defense and no charges were filed, police spokesman Lt. Huey Thornton said. It will be reviewed by a grand jury following routine procedure.
Lowery, who was on leave until Sunday, serves with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252, based at the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, N.C.
Lowery's father said the unit flies tankers than can refuel aircraft in flight. Lowery, who got married in January, went to Afghanistan a week later and served there for about two months.