Masked Leeds gunman hunted after homeowner blasted

Masked Leeds gunman hunted after homeowner blasted


Published Date: 25 June 2008 By Bruce Smith Crime Reporter A MASKED gunman is being hunted after he broke into a Leeds house and blasted one of the occupants with a shotgun.

Detectives suspect that the shooting in which the 29-year-old victim suffered a serious leg wound was not a random attack.

The man was downstairs at his privately owned house in the Wortley area of Leeds at 5.20am on Sunday, while his partner and a young child were asleep upstairs, said police.

Suddenly the house door was forced open and a masked man entered the lounge area. The intruder produced a shotgun and pointing it at the householder shot him at almost point-blank range in his left upper thigh.

The gunman then fled from the home and an ambulance was called to rush the man to hospital where he underwent surgery and was still detained on Wednesday for treatment to the gunshot wound.

Det Insp Mark Gaunt of Pudsey-Weetwood CID., said it had been a frightening an "apparently not random" attack on the victim. He said the injured was a local man from a large family with relatives living in the area.

Officers had carried out house-to-house inquiries in the area and forensic experts had made a detailed examination of the shooting scene. The motive for the attack was not clear and a number of lines on inquiry were being followed to establish the reason for the shooting.

Det Insp Gaunt appealed for anyone who had seen a man loitering in the Wortley area at such an early hour, a car unusual to the area or who may have information about the shooting and the person responsible to ring Pudsey-Weetwood CID via West Yorkshire Police's 0845 6060606 number.