Alleged airgun shooting suspects released by police with their weapon after being apprehended by Jewish community

Police have released suspects who reportedly shot gel pellets at identifiably Jewish people with an airgun.

The victims of one of the alleged attacks, many of whom, it is understood, believed that the gel gun was a deadly firearm, belonged to the Jewish community in Stamford Hill.

The alleged incidents were reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.

The volunteer group has said that there were four suspects who allegedly fired the gun from a grey Volkswagen. Police, who were said to have taken fifteen minutes to have arrived on the scene, reportedly released the suspects after a short conversation.

According to one of the victims, in one incident, the suspects were driving around Stamford Hill, one of London’s most diverse areas, firing exclusively at Jews. At approximately midnight on Saturday 18th March, a car with tinted windows drove past a woman and her husband, both of whom are identifiably Jewish, rolled down the window and fired three shots from a black gel gun before laughing. Under the impression that the car intended to run them over, the couple ran for cover.

Another individual told us that following an alleged incident in which there was another shooting of the airgun on Sunday night, the men in the car were then stopped by members of the Jewish community, who blocked the car from driving away. Police arrived fifteen minutes after being called, at which point there had been a total of five victims. Police reportedly informed the individual that the details of the men have been collected, but then released the men without seizing the weapon.

If you have any more information on the alleged incident of 18th March, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference numbers: CAD 2734/19MAR23 and CAD 496 26/03.

If you have any more information on the alleged incident of 26th March, please contact the police on 101 or Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123, quoting reference numbers: CAD 498 26/03/23.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism: “This is but the latest in a spate of incidents against the Jewish community in Stamford Hill in which police have either been slow to react, if at all, or refused to take action altogether. We must ask, why is this incident allegedly not being investigated? What more must the Jewish community undergo before action is taken?”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over five hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than five times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

Campaign Against Antisemitism works closely with Shomrim, with whom we have an information-sharing agreement.