Bullring shooting: Eyewitnesses describe horror as teen shot and man stabbed
A TEENAGER was shot and another man stabbed inside Birmingham’s Bullring during one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
City centre shop entrances became crime scenes as armed officers swooped in to hunt offenders after a 19-year-old man was shot in the leg and a second man was stabbed in the face at 2.20pm yesterday.
Inspector Bernard McEldowney, of West Midlands Police confirmed the incidents but said the injuries were not life threatening.
Eyewitnesses told the Birmingham Mail there had been a confrontation among two groups of youths in the area between the Mango and Selfridges stores on the middle floor of the Bullring – one of the busiest shopping centres in the country.
Jeff Hayben, who was working in Mango when he heard a gunshot, said: “It was really busy in the store as you would expect on Boxing Day and out of the blue I heard a gunshot though the window, which was a real shock.
“There was some sort of confrontation between what looked like two rival groups of youths – one group of Caucasian or white youths and a group of black youths. A black lad was shot in the leg, I saw him limp away then collapse and his mates dragged him away.”
The 22-year-old added: “There wasn’t a panic as you would expect a gunshot to cause, but I don’t think shoppers realised what had happened. There was probably fewer people around than you would expect but then news of what had happened began to travel.”
Around the same time police cordoned off the area from Ben Sherman down to H&M on the middle floor after a stabbing incident. Police officers surrounded the area along with Bullring security staff.
One shopper who did not wish to be named said: “It’s hard to believe that after hearing about a shooting and a stabbing people continue to shop with their kids in tow. If I was with my children I would want to get them out of there.”
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “On arrival at the scene, crews found a man who was being treated by security staff for a gunshot wound to the upper leg.
