This is the terrifying moment a shooter opens fire outside a memorial service for the ex-wife and daughter of a drugs cartel gangster, as a man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and a young girl fights for her life in hospital.
In CCTV footage from a nearby street, a black car can be seen travelling towards the church in Euston, central London, at around 1.30pm on Saturday, moments before a huge bang rings out.
Crowds of people are then seeing fleeing the scene on foot, with some heard screaming as they attempt to get to safety. It is not known if the black car in the footage is involved in the incident.
The funeral was being held for Sara Sanchez and her mother, Fresia Calderon, whose ex is a gangster linked to the notorious Colombian Cali Cartel.
It comes after the Metropolitan Police said it had arrested a 22-year-old man following the shooting, which left six people injured, including a seven-year-old girl who remains in a serious condition with ‘life-threatening’ injuries.
A dark car was seen driving down the street where the shooting took place in CCTV footage from outside the church
Immediately following the shooting people can be seen fleeing in terror on the CCTV footage
Detectives say the man was taken into custody after a car was stopped in Cricklewood Lane, Barnet, shortly before 4pm yesterday afternoon.
The shooting, which took place at around 1.30pm pm on Saturday, January 14, took place as mourners attended a service for a 20-year-old British-Colombian cancer victim and her 50-year-old mother.
Family and friends of Sara Sanchez and her mother, Fresia Calderon, were at St Aloysius Church on Phoenix Road opposite Euston Railway station for the memorial.
Ms Calderon is understood to have died from a blood clot in November following a flight from Colombia to Heathrow, before Ms Sanchez died from terminal leukaemia three weeks later.
It is reported that when members of the congregation went outside to release white doves – a symbol of peace – a man jumped out of a car and started firing into the crowd.
Officers from the Met Police, along with paramedics from London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance rushed to the scene after reports of multiple injuries.
Three women – aged 48, 54 and 41 – were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, although the 48-year-old’s wounds were assessed as being potentially life-changing.
A 21-year-old woman was also taken to a central London hospital and her condition has been assessed as non life-threatening.
Earlier yesterday it emerged that Ms Calderon had been married to a convicted member of the Cali cartel.
It is raises the question whether the incident could be linked to the Colombian drug trade.
Carlos Arturo Sanchez-Coronado had been jailed in the UK for his role in the money laundering operation of a gang linked to the Cali cartel in Colombia, the Telegraph reports.
Police officers investigate the scene of the shooting near Euston station on Saturday night
The drive-by shooting took place in north London outside the memorial of a cancer victim, 20, and her mother, 50
Mr Sanchez-Coronado is said to have been the first man to have been extradited from the South American country to Britain, before he was admitted three counts of money laundering and fake documents.
The criminal organisation’s share of the UK drugs market was so vast that the price of cocaine was said to have risen by 50 per cent following its dismantling.
During a number of raids of properties in north west London, police seized millions of pounds of cash and cocaine and marijuana with a street value of £100million.
Sanchez-Coronado, meanwhile, was later tracked down in Colombia where he had been working as a taxi driver.
He was imprisoned in 2009, before later moving back to South America, where he was believed to be living in the Chilean capital of Santiago when he died at the age of 56 last year.
Carlos Arturo Sanchez-Coronado (left) was the ex-husband of Fresia Calderon, who was one of the people the service was being held in memory of
The shooting took place at a memorial service for Fresia Calderon (left) and her daughter Sara Sanchez (right), who died within a month of each other
An invitation to the memorial service on Saturday urged people attending to wear white clothing in memory of the mother and daughter
The incident happened on Phoenix Road, metres away from Euston Station in central London
CCTV footage obtained by Sky News shows a black car being driven down the street where the shooting took place at around the time of the incident.
In the video a loud bang can be heard, before people begin to run away from the church screaming in terror and a dark car driving down Phoenix Road, near Euston Station.
A police source told The Mail on Sunday a man jumped out of the car and started firing into the crowd as white doves – symbols of peace – were released.
It had been mooted that the shooter at the service was targeting a member of the crowd in a revenge attack, although police have not yet revealed a motive for the crime.
Shocking footage has since emerged showing the chaos inside the church as the mass shooting began.
Father Jeremy Trood, who conducted the memorial service, said the scenes after the shooting were ‘pandemonium’
Grieving churchgoers can be heard screaming and running for safety back inside the church, with one person shouting, ‘we need to get out’ while another said, ‘get to the back’.
Others were heard crying, some shouting ‘oh my god’ and others being told to ‘sit down’.
One woman who attended the funeral said last night: ‘People are saying the intended target of the shooting was a man who attended the service.
‘There’s speculation that it was some sort of revenge attack.’
Father Jeremy Trood, who was conducting the service before the shooting on Saturday, said it was ‘pandemonium’ and told Sky News he heard a gunshot shortly after mourners had left the church to release the doves.
One guest who was at the memorial service said on Saturday: ‘People are saying the intended target of the shooting was a man who attended the service,’ one woman from the funeral said last night. ‘There’s speculation that it was some sort of revenge attack.’
Speaking at the scene on Sunday morning before the arrest had been made Superintendent Jack Rowlands from the Met Police called the shooting a ‘senseless act of violence’.
He added: ‘Just before 1.30pm yesterday, we were called to reports of a shooting outside St Aloysius church in Phoenix Road, Camden.
‘Officers responded with paramedics and a crew from the London Air Ambulance.
‘They found multiple people with injuries caused by pellets from a shotgun.
‘We believe the suspects discharged a shotgun from a moving vehicle, which was a black Toyota C-HR, likely a 2019 model or similar.
‘This was a shocking incident. People came here to attend a funeral, to be with friends and loved ones and mourn together, instead they were the victims of a senseless act of violence.’
Anyone who witnessed the incident or who has information about what took place should call 101, giving the reference 3357/14JAN.
Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
