History
Gun crime in Manchester appears to have begun in the 1970s at a time of rising unemployment and poverty in the area, which is known as a centre of Manchester's Black British/Afro-Caribbean community. Finding it difficult to make a living from legitimate means some residents chose to turn to the drug trade - mainly the sale of cannabis. Most of the drug conflict was centred around the Moss Side precinct where black British youths would sell cannabis or heroin. After police cracked down the drug sellers moved down to the Alexandra Park estate in Moss Side.
During the early 1990s, the use of firearms by criminals in south Manchester soared along with gang associations. Gangs related to their 'patch', named after places such as Gooch Close, Doddington Close and the Pepperhill pub. South Manchester's gangs became engaged in feuds with each other for the control of the drug trade. Shootings and murders increased in frequency in the area. This started attracting negative news and media headlines, with the nickname of 'Gunchester' being used to sum up this increase in gang, drugs and firearms activity.
Gun related violence featured throughout the 1990s. In January 1993, 14-year-old Benji Stanley was shot dead as he queued for an Alvinos takeaway in Moss Side. The reasons surrounding his shooting are not fully known and no one has ever been prosecuted for this crime.
During the mid-1990s, the police started developing new approaches to confronting gun crime in south Manchester which initially met with limited success. These started with Operation China in the mid-1990s, which aimed at targeting gang members and taking them out of circulation.
By the late 1990s gun related killings had increased with the nature of shootings changing becoming more reckless often seeming to take place over petty disputes, such as 'a row over a girl or ownership of a bike', and, surprisingly, rarely over the drug dealing "turf". 1996 saw 28 confirmed shootings with 12 wounded and four dead. In 1997 there were 68 confirmed shootings, with 39 injuries and six deaths. In 1999 more shots were fired in the Manchester area than in any other year, at least 270 (based on found casings), with the majority being in the south Manchester areas of Longsight, Moss Side and Hulme . In 1999 there were 43 gun related injuries and seven fatalities.
Read more about this topic: Gun Crime In South Manchester
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