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A man was shot dead in a gangland-style execution as he arrived for a football training session, police said today.
Team-mates watched in horror as the 36-year-old was shot several times in front of them at public playing fields in West Wickham, south-east London. Police said the masked killer, who escaped on a mountain bike, may have been lying in wait for the man at the Sparrows Den fields shortly before 6.30 last night.
Officers and the air ambulance went to the scene but the man was pronounced dead.
Police are investigating whether the shooting is linked to gang violence. The victim, who is from South Norwood, was not known to them, said a spokesman for the Met.
He added there had been no arrests and a post-mortem examination was taking place today.
The playing fields are used by amateur football and rugby teams and dog walkers.
Reader views (5)
Ah England dear England.. This shooting shooting took place where I played as a child. What a shame to see the entire UK come to it's knees in the few decades since we "won the war". I'm sure there will be an ethnic link to this crime yet AGAIN. This type of thing is the reason I left the UK.
- M Andersom, Sydney, Australia
Please, please, please stop referring to the U.K. as a 'country'. Those days are past. It's now an E.U. province -- a province of a larger country in the same way as Ontario or Ohio. In a few months, when the bullied Irish finally say YES, the provincial status becomes legally enshrined. Countries are self-governing, which doesn't fit with 80% of new laws governing the British being passed in Brussels. It's very misleading to the younger generation to still refer to the U.K.'s old status. Brits could have kept their country if they'd had the willpower, but they didn't, so now we have to move on. By the way, there's a provision in the E.U. Constitution, aka Lisbon Treaty, that changes the word 'country' in one of the earlier merged treaties into 'Member State'; 'state' is an ambiguous word that was carefully selected.
- Phil Jones, London UK
And who said it was gang related? no one knows the circumstances of his death, your story is inaccurate, and you should get your facts straight..
rip ryan...my friend, our manager...x
- Jo, west wickham
He escaped on a mountain bike??
If it wasn't so sad it would be bloody hilarious.
What a sad shadow of a former great country we have become and we have no one to blame but the British people.
- Martin, Hong Kong
Ah to be in Britain where the sweet sound of birds singing has been replaced by the sound of handguns and the swish of a knife blade.
Gee thanks Labour and Tory for your demolition of my country by catastrophic immigration, culture clashes, weak laws, destruction of family, embracing Yuman Rites and Political Correctness to the point of surrender.........
Your failures will hang around our heads but you will answer for what you have done, Oh yes you will.
- Chris Williams, Cardiff
