A drive-by shooting outside a church in London that left a seven-year-old girl fighting for her life may have links to a Colombian drug cartel.
The child was left with life-threatening injuries after being struck by shotgun pellets fired from a black Toyota at St Aloysius Church on Phoenix Road, in Euston, on Saturday at around 1.30pm.
Four women, aged 21, 41, 48 and 54, were injured in the attack. The 48-year-old has sustained potentially life-changing injuries. A 12-year-old girl sustained a leg injury and was discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon.
The shooting took place during a requiem mass for Sara Sanchez, 20, and her mother, Fresia Calderon, 50, who both died in November.
Ms Sanchez suffered from leukaemia for three years before succumbing to the disease after her mother died suddenly from a rare blood clot on arrival at Heathrow from Colombia.
Ms Calderon’s ex-husband, Carlos Arturo Sanchez-Coronado, was jailed in 2009 for his role in money laundering for the Colombian Cali cartel, The Telegraph reports.
He was said to be the first person to have been extradited from the South American country to the UK where he pleaded guilty to three charges linked to money laundering and fake documents.
Police raided multiple homes of the ringleaders in north-west London and seized £100 million worth of cocaine, marijuana and cash.
After serving his jail sentence he moved back to the Colombian city and died at the age of 56. The link with the Cali cartel has prompted speculation that the memorial was targeted due to Mr Sanchez-Coronado’s connections to the gang.
Ms Calderon and her daughter visited Mr Sanchez-Coronado’s family in Colombia in the autumn, The Telegraph reported.
Scotland Yard has not commented on the reports and is understood to be keeping an open mind as to the possible motive of the shooting.
The attackers remain at large, no arrests have been made and police are yet to trace the car – a black Toyota C-HR, likely a 2019 model or similar – from which the shots were fired.
Superintendent Jack Rowlands, of the Met Police’s Specialist Crime Command which is leading the investigation, said on Sunday: “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.
“We know it would have had a significant impact on communities across Camden and we will have a visible police presence in the local area in the coming days and weeks to provide extra reassurance, and as your neighbourhood superintendent I will ensure that will be happening.”
Anyone with information is asked to call 101, giving the reference 3357/14JAN. Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.”
