Police in West Yorkshire have expressed serious concerns about an unprecedented rise in gun violence in the region over Christmas.
Officers have appealed to the public for any information they have on firearms incidents and any illegally held guns.
The call comes after three unrelated incidents since the start of Christmas Eve. On 24 December, a man in Shipley was shot and injured and, later that day, a police car was damaged in Bradford as officers attended a reported assault.
On Christmas Day, a car was damaged in a firearm incident in Huddersfield.
Assistant chief constable Russ Foster said police were “very concerned about this recent increase in firearms-related incidents” and were appealing directly to the community for help.
He said: “In each of the incidents we have immediately deployed armed officers to the scene to offer protection to victims and to provide reassurance to law-abiding members of the public looking to enjoy the Christmas period.”
Foster said despite the spate of gun-related crime, the chances of being involved in an incident remained very low.
“It is also important that anyone with any information, no matter how big or small, about any firearms-related incident comes forward with it. This includes information about illegally held firearms, which we can then take off the streets and stop them getting into the wrong hands,” Foster said.
“In January this year we held a weapons surrender during which 80 guns were handed in. That’s 80 guns that can now never fall into the hands of people who could cause harm with them and it’s timely that we repeat the same weapons surrender in the early new year.”
