31 October 2022

Takeaway delivery driver on last job of the day killed amid gunfire

31 October 2022

A takeaway delivery driver has died along with a second man after gunshots were fired in south London.

They were killed in Railton Road, Brixton shortly before 8pm on Sunday after locals heard shots ring out and vehicles crashing.

On Monday, a Deliveroo driver working near the scene said he knew one of the victims, who had been making his last delivery of the day when he died.

Paulo Silva, 42, described him as a “good boy” and “young” and said he had been planning to go to Brazil in December.

The Metropolitan Police have not yet confirmed the identities of those who died, but said one man had died in a crash while another was fatally shot.

White forensic tents had been put up at the scene on Monday, where debris could be seen strewn across the road.

There were two crashed vehicles – a silver car which had lost one of its tyres and a moped.

A 322 bus was left parked within the police cordon.

The latest violence means four people have been killed in two shootings in five days in the English capital, after a separate incident in Ilford, east London on Tuesday that left two men dead and a third injured.

This follows a spate of shootings in July which saw three men die in separate attacks in six days.

Before those killings, up until July 19 this year, there had been no firearms deaths in the English capital since October 31 2021.

In the whole of 2021, there were 12 fatal shootings among a total of 134 homicides recorded by the Metropolitan Police.

And in April the force said it had seen a reduction in gun crime, with the number of all shootings, including fatal and non-fatal, down from 283 in 2019/20 to 196 in 2021/22.

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