Police arrest teen who shot himself in the foot

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A teenager shot himself in the foot and told doctors he was a victim, a court heard.

The 17-year-old turned up at hospital with a gunshot injury to his foot, claiming he had been shot.

But CCTV showed he had accidentally discharged the shotgun while trying to hide it in his waistband.

Police officers didn’t believe his story due to the nature of his injury.

Witnesses and CCTV identified he had accidentally shoot himself in the foot in Brentford, west London, on March 11 last year.

The teen was sentenced to a 12-month referral order at Kingston Crown Court on Friday January 27.

He had pleaded guilty at the same court last month to being in possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

An investigation found another teenager, Tyrese Campbell, was with him at the time of the accident and took the firearm away with him.

Campbell, 19, of Hounslow, west London, was sentenced to 14 months in jail on Friday January 27 after pleading guilty to carrying a firearm in a public place at the same court last month.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Katie Newton, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “The 17-year-old and Campbell were illegally in possession of the shotgun, and they clearly only had it with the intention to cause fear of violence – or worse.”

She added: “We know gun crime is closely linked to gangs, drugs markets and organised crime groups and we will stop at nothing to disrupt the supply of firearms on the streets of London.

“But we can’t do this alone. We can reduce gun crime far quicker if members of the public provide us with information about where firearms are being stored and who they are being used by.”

SWNS