CCTV footage shows the chilling moment Connor Chapman opened fire on a crowd of people at a pub in Wallasey, killing an innocent victim. Elle Edwards was fatally shot by the 23-year-old on Christmas Eve last year.
The shocking clip, released by Merseyside Police following Chapman's conviction for murder, shows the masked attacker discharging the Skorpion submachine gun outside the Lighthouse pub after skulking through a car park towards his victims. He can be seen briefly waiting on a corner before firing at a crowd of people, who are not shown in the video.
Following a three-and-a-half week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Chapman was today found guilty of murdering 26-year-old Ms Edwards, who was a popular beautician. She was described as a "wholly innocent" victim of the attack, which followed a series of "tit for tat" incidents involving rival gangs based on the Woodchurch and Beechwood estates, the Liverpool Echo reports.
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Ms Edwards was seen on CCTV inside the pub happily chatting with friends before going outside for a cigarette at 11.47pm, minutes before the fatal attack.
Chapman discharged the military-grade weapon a total of 12 times, hitting Ms Edwards twice in the head and once in the shoulder and leaving five others injured. The shooter then sprinted to a stolen Mercedes A Class, before speeding away from the scene.
The court previously heard that career criminal and self-confessed cocaine dealer Chapman, said to have been "at the heart" of the Woodchurch organised crime group, had lurked outside the busy pub for nearly three hours beforehand. Following the attack, he fled to the home of his "criminal associate" 20-year-old Thomas Waring, who was said to have taken custody of the gun before helping to torch the car a week later on New Year's Eve, the court heard.
The court heard that the intended targets of the shooting were Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy. Salked had been stood next to Ms Edwards when Chapman fired.
Salkeld suffered organ damage after one bullet penetrated his chest, while Duffy was shot in both legs. Three other "innocent bystanders" - Liam Carr, Harry Loughran and Nicholas Speed - were also struck and injured.
Jurors were told that the attack had been the culmination of an ongoing violent feud with the firm from Beechwood, also known as the Ford Estate.
The previous day, Salkeld and Duffy had been caught on a Ring doorbell camera dishing out a savage beating to Woodchurch OCG member Sam Searson on Highfield Road in Rock Ferry. Earlier in the month, Curtis Byrne was shot on Orrets Meadow Road in Woodchurch. Kieran Cowley was also injured in a shooting - in which the same Glock pistol was used - on Newark Close in Noctorum, close to the address of a man called Mason Smith.
Duffy had previously been seen on CCTV in the process of carrying out a raid on an Amazon delivery truck inside a stolen Ford Kuga car which was used in the commission of the latter assault. Chapman had been linked to a burglary involving both Byrne and Smith in November 2022, in which two electric bikes were stolen from a shed at an address on Thirlmere Avenue in Noctorum.
On Thursday, Chapman was convicted of murder by a jury of seven women and five men after three hours and 48 minutes of deliberations. He was also found guilty of attempting to murder Salkeld and Duffy, wounding with intent against Mr Duffy and Mr Loughran, assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Mr Speed and possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life. Waring, of Private Drive in Barnston, was convicted of possession of a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender.
Both Chapman and Waring will be sentenced on Friday, July 6.
