Girl, 11, shot by stray bullet during alleged gang feud ‘didn’t realise she’d been hit’ until later

An 11-year-old girl who suffered a gunshot wound after an alleged feud between two gangs near a children's playground in Wolverhampton and had to have a stray bullet removed from her leg said she didn't realise she had been hit until later. 

In a video presented in Birmingham Crown Court to the jurors, the young victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, recounted hearing a ‘loud crack’, assuming it was stones or objects hitting the ground. Only later did she realise what had happened later, experiencing a delayed reaction to the gunshot. 

The footage was presented as part of the prosecution's case against Kian Durnin, Martinho De-Sousa, and Tireq McIntosh, all from Wolverhampton. All three defendants deny charges of attempting to murder an unknown person and intentionally causing injury to two victims.

According to the prosecution, the girl and a 15-year-old boy were struck by gunfire from a stolen Mini Cooper as it passed the park in Shelley Road, on May 1, carrying Durnin, De-Sousa, and McIntosh.

The court heard that this incident triggered a high-speed chase involving the Mini, a Ford Focus, two bikes, and two other cars - a pursuit likened earlier in the case to a "movie scene straight from the director's script".

The girl, interviewed by investigating officer Cheryl Drew, explained in the video that she initially joined a group of three friends at Church Road car park. Later, the group split, and she went on to play near a lake and then in the play park at Shelley Road, Fordhouses.

She said: "Our friends came back with some cake and some drinks and we made our way to the play park where we went to hang out and talk. There were two cars in the car park, one was red and one was black, and two motorbikes and a group of men huddled around, some of them wearing masks, which I thought was a bit strange, but they didn't say anything to us so we carried on to the play park.

"We went on a number of things in the play park then the climbing frame, and all the time I was watching what the group were doing they seem to be talking to each other, but then took my eye off them and the next thing I heard a shot or what sounded like a crack or things falling onto the floor.

"At first I didn't feel it or realise I had been shot until my friend started screaming and when I looked closely I could see I had been and then I started screaming as well, because of the shock I think."

The girl was wounded in her left thigh and emergency services were called to take her to the hospital to have the bullet removed. In her video testimony, she mentioned experiencing occasional pain especially when there’s pressure on her thigh. 

Earlier in court proceedings, it was disclosed that the stolen Mini Cooper pursued the Focus, together with a man on an electric bike and two additional vehicles, a Peugeot and a Seat Leon. 

The case continues.