'She ran in the house covered in blood' - Witness speaks of 'chaotic' scene after shooting on Sheffield estate
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Police were called shortly before 8pm on Wednesday, January 6 to Castledale Croft on the Woodthorpe estate in Sheffield to reports of a shooting.
On arrival officers found two people injured at the scene, both of whom were taken to hospital for treatment, and a further shooting took place on the nearby Manor estate around an hour later.
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Hide AdThe witness – who didn’t want to be named – spoke of a ‘chaotic’ scene in the immediate aftermath of the incident at Castledale Croft, with armed officers swarming the area and an injured woman running inside his house for help.
“She ran in the house covered in blood,” he said.
“My wife had to give her first aid and you can see the marks from one of the shotgun cartridges on my caravan. There were four empty cartridges on the ground at the end of the street.
"The people who did it ran off but they left the car there. It must have been stolen – the police recovered it earlier today.”
The man said that while it was obvious the Woodthorpe estate was no ‘Garden of Eden’, trouble such as that which took place on his street on Wednesday night was rare.
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Hide Ad“I’ve just told a new neighbour a few months ago that it was a lovely quiet street and then this happens,” he said.
"You do get bits of trouble in this area but you don’t expect something as bad as that on your own doorstep. I haven’t been able to go to work or move my car all day.”
In the last year, several violent incidents have taken place in the Woodthorpe area not far from the scene of Wednesday's shooting.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested after a drive-by shooting on nearby Nodder Road in July while Jordan Marples-Douglas, aged 23, was stabbed to death in a house in Woodthorpe Road in March.
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Hide AdThe man added that he hoped the perpetrators of the latest attack would be caught and brought to justice like the man who shot the 12-year-old boy on the Arbourthorne estate this time last year.
“The last time something like this happened and that kid got shot the guy got 19 years,” he said. “I hope these get something similar.”
“You can’t go running around with guns, there are kids who play in this street.”
The man said he also later heard more gunshots, presuming these to be the shots fired at a second police cordon set up at the junction of Hastilar Road and Prince of Wales Road just a few hundred yards away.
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Hide AdSouth Yorkshire Police said the second incident – which took place at around 9pm – was believed to be linked to the first.
Residents near the second scene – which was centred on the garden of a property at the junction of the two roads – spoke of their shock at the incident.
One said he had heard two bangs at about 9pm but had assumed they were ‘just fireworks’.
He also said the area was generally one of the better parts of the Manor estate and that the incident was believed to have taken place in the garden of the property surrounded by the cordon rather than the house itself.
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Hide AdAnother resident walking her dog agreed that there was very rarely any trouble on that part of the Manor and that the Woodhorpe estate was generally ‘much worse’.
Police were stationed at both scenes for much of Thursday, conducting fingertip searches of neighbouring roads and gardens while crime scene investigation officers carried out their work.
Officers said a 42-year old woman and a 23-year-old man who received minor injuries when a property they were inside on Castledale Croft was shot at were treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to hospital for treatment.
Last night, the woman remained in hospital while the man had been discharged.
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Hide AdThey added no arrests had yet been made but that the investigation was ‘progressing at pace’ and that extra police patrols had been ordered in the wake of the shootings.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “An investigation is underway after shots were fired on Castledale Croft in the Manor area of Sheffield last night.
“It is reported that at 7.57pm, a 42-year old woman and a 23-year-old man received minor injuries when a property they were inside was shot at. Both were treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to hospital for treatment.
“A second gunshot discharge on Prince of Wales Road that took place at around 9pm last night is being treated as linked.
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Hide Ad“An investigation has been launched and enquiries to identify those responsible are progressing at pace.
“Officers remain in the area carrying out enquiries, and there will be an increased police presence in the area today.”
Anyone with information should call South Yorkshire Police on 101 quoting incident 790 of January 6.
You can also call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.