Residents witness police chase drama
Reporter: ANNA CLARKE
Date published: 13 August 2012
Manhunt after gun and grenade killing
RESIDENTS were left scared to leave their houses when suspects in gun and grenade attacks escaped from police in Failsworth.
The men, believed to be connected to a fatal shooting in Clayton and an explosion in Droylsden, were chased by police to Failsworth on Friday. The men abandoned their silver Ford Fiesta in Lord Lane and made their escape.
The car was cordoned off until later the following day for Army bomb displosal men, forensics teams and sniffer dogs to make checks.
Resident Bill Johnson, who saw the drama unfold from his nearby home, said: “I heard the sirens. Two lads came to a screeching halt and got out of their car. They grabbed something out of the boot and jumped into another car that sped off. It looked like the second car had been waiting for them.”
The man killed in a gun and grenade attack at the house in Clayton a short time earlier was 46-year-old David Short, whose son Mark (23), was shot dead in Droylsden in May.
A second grenade exploded at a house in Droylsden a few minutes after the first, though no one was hurt. Police are hunting 29-year–old Dale Cregan over Friday’s incidents and the murder.
Shocked Failsworth residents took to Twitter to discuss the incident.
Katie Thomas, said: “Hearing all this stuff with what’s been happening in Failsworth. Scared to leave my house now.”
Tweeter Natasha Christie echoed her fear: “Failsworth is like crime city central.”
The police warn not to approach Cregan, who uses both a false black onyx eye and a normal-looking false eye.
Contact the major incident team on 0161 856 3301 with information.
A man was to appear in court today charged with the murder of father–of–one Mark Short, who was gunned down in a Droylsden pub.
Amateur boxer Mr Short (23), from Manchester, was shot in the neck at the Cotton Tree Pub on May 25 after a gunman walked in and opened fire. Three other men were shot during the attack.
Mathew James (32), from Clayton, was to appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Luke Livesey (27), from Hattersley, and Damien Gorman (38), from Glossop, were charged with Mr Short’s murder and three counts of attempted murder last week.
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