Salford shooting: boy shot in leg to undergo surgery for second time
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Version 0 of 1. A seven-year-old boy shot in the leg on his doorstep in a district of Manchester riven by a gangland feud is to undergo surgery for a second time. Gunshots rang out after Christian Hickey and his mother, Jayne, 29, answered the door to their home in Salford to two men who were looking for his father. Jayne Hickey was shot twice in the leg and her son once in the attack at about 9.25pm on Monday. Christian had surgery to remove the bullet from his leg on Wednesday and detectives have interviewed him, police said. They now hope to interview his mother, who remains in a stable condition in hospital. The boy’s injuries have been described as life changing. Locals said Christian, a keen footballer and a pupil at St Gilbert’s RC primary school, had recently enrolled at a local football centre of excellence. Rebekah Sutcliffe of Greater Manchester police said: “It will be a long road to recovery for the boy and he will be having a further operation [on Thursday], but he has been well enough to be interviewed by officers. “We are making progress in the investigation and we hope the bullets will give us a clue as to the identity of the offender.” Related: Salford shooting of mother and son linked to heroin turf war More than 200 police officers carried out dawn raids across Salford on Wednesday, arresting 18 people and seizing a substantial amount of cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis, a stolen motorbike and cash. But Sutcliffe said inquiries into the identity of the men who shot Hickey and her son had been met with “a wall of silence”. “I understand that people are reluctant to talk to police, but if you know who is behind these horrific shootings, your information could help to stop further atrocities in your community,” she said. Police earlier revealed that the two men asked Hickey “where’s your husband?” before shooting her twice in the leg and shooting the boy once. They then fled on foot. Hickey’s partner, Christian Sr, subsequently gave chase. One line of inquiry is that the attack was connected to Christian Hickey’s conviction in 2003 over the death of a 22-year-old man in Salford. Hickey, then 25, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the revenge stabbing of Philip Marsh during a row after a house party. His younger cousin Phillip Hickey-Jones, then 19, was sentenced to life in prison for murder. Police described one of the gunmen as white, aged between 19 and 20, of chunky build and wearing a baseball cap. He spoke slowly and with a Salford accent. The second man is described as white and was also wearing a baseball cap. The shootings – the 21st such incident in 18 months in Salford – appear to be linked to a conflict between two rival gangs who are fighting over the heroin trade. The bloody dispute has flared up since the murder of Salford’s “Mr Big”, Paul Massey, on the driveway of his home in July. A close friend said he had been mediating between two warring gangs at the time. His killer is still at large. |