Cambridgeshire shooting – news: Victims were father and son as police probe ‘custody battle’
Bodies of a 32-year-old and a 57-year-old found at separate homes
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Two men shot dead in villages in Cambridgeshire were father and son, police have revealed.
Three people have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder following the shooting of the victims in Cambridgeshire.
Police were called to a property in Meridian Close, Bluntisham, at just after 9pm on Wednesday with reports of gunshots.
Officers arrived to find the body of a 32-year-old man with a gunshot wound and are now treating his death as murder. Then at 9.37pm, police received a call from a person in Sutton, near Ely, again reporting hearing shots.
The body of a 57-year-old man was found at a property in The Row with bullet wounds. His death is also being treated as murder.
A neighbour said Gary Dunmore was “so friendly, happy, smiley - just the perfect neighbour”.
A 27-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman were arrested in the early hours of today in Cambridge, while a 66-year-old man was arrested in the Worcester area.
All three were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
Victims were father and son, police confirm
Detective chief superintendent Jon Hutchinson, of Cambridgeshire Police, said the two men shot dead in the villages of Bluntisham and Earith were “father and son”.
“Working with local residents and family members we quite quickly established that the two victims were related and they were father and son,” he said.
He said that the “primary line of investigation” was that the incident related to a “familial issue”.
“It’s been widely reported in the media that this may relate to a custody battle,” he said. “I can confirm that is an active line of inquiry for us.”
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Cambridgeshire shootings: Three arrested after two men shot dead in ‘targeted’ attacks
Three people have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder following the shooting of two men in Cambridgeshire.
Police were called to a property in Meridian Close, Bluntisham, at just after 9pm yesterday (29 March) with reports of gunshots.
Officers arrived to find the body of a 32-year-old man inside a property with a gunshot wound and are now treating his death as murder.
Then at 9.37pm, police received a call from a person in Sutton, near Ely, again reporting hearing gunshots.
The body of a 57-year-old man was found at a property in The Row with gunshot wounds and his death is also being treated as murder.
Tara Cobham reports:
Arrests made after two men shot dead in ‘targeted’ Cambridgeshire shootings
Three people have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder following the shooting of two men in Cambridgeshire.
Police launch murder investigation following shootings
Commenting on the double shooting, detective inspector Mark Butler, from the major crime unit, said: “We have launched two linked murder investigations following the shootings of two men at separate properties in the county.
“These events will be shocking to local people and there will be understandable concerns within local communities, however, we are treating the attacks as targeted and there is no wider risk to the general public.
“There will be an increased police presence in the areas concerned today and officers and scenes of crime officers will be at the scenes throughout the day.
“Our thoughts also go out to the family and friends of the victims.
“Specially trained officers are in touch with them and they are helping our investigation.
“Detectives are now beginning inquiries into how these events unfolded and we are appealing to anyone who was in either area and saw anyone acting suspiciously or a white Peugeot 208.
“Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, could be very important to our investigation.”
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting Operation Scan.
Three arrests made on suspicion of conspiracy to murder
A 27-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman were arrested in the early hours of Thursday in Cambridge, while a 66-year-old man was arrested in the Worcester area.
All three were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
A car that was believed to have been used by the offender, a white Peugeot 208, and a shotgun have been recovered.
The properties in Meridian Close and The Row have been cordoned off and police officers remain at the scenes.
First pictures from the scene
Police at the scene in Meridian Close, Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire, where police found the body of a 32-year-old man with a gunshot wound on Wednesday evening.
Witnesses describe police cars ‘racing down’ street
Gordon Murray, who lives near two semi-detached houses that have been sealed off by murder detectives in Sutton, Cambridgeshire, said he saw police cars “racing down” and armed police shouting on Wednesday evening.
The 62-year-old support engineer said officers later asked him if he had CCTV footage, and when he looked back he saw a white car that made two passes, and on the second pass the car stopped and someone opened the boot.
“I saw the police cars racing down here,” he said.
“There was a lot of shouting.
“I thought it was an altercation or something. Then I saw the armed police.
“They were shouting something to the homeowners. That was it.
“I stood in the window watching.”
Witness describes ‘three loud bangs’
Sarah Lown, who also lives near to the houses sealed off by murder detectives in Sutton, Cambridgeshire, said she heard three loud bangs on Wednesday evening.
“I didn’t know it was gunshots at the time,” the 38-year-old designer said.
“It was about 9.15pm; I thought it was something blowing over as I heard a bang.
“There are pallets in our garden that I thought could have fallen over.
“I didn’t think anything crazy had happened.
“I heard two more – it was bang, space, bang.
“Whether or not they were each gunshots I don’t know; then police were outside the house.”
Witness recalls armed police resonding to ‘bangs'
Gordon Murray, who lives near of the sealed off by murder detectives in Sutton, said there were two cars with “three or four” officers in each, “all armed and with their headgear”.
“Earlier on there was another policeman with a torch,” he said.
“My son said he heard some bangs but I don’t know if that was the car doors slamming.
“There was a white hatchback which came around and stopped outside, then about half an hour later he came back and lifted up the boot.”
Mr Murray said the footage was “a bit fuzzy, it was dark”.
He said this happened at around 9.30pm.
Latest from the scene
Forensic officers in white suits worked at the scene on Thursday morning, with two bunches of flowers left on the drive and uniformed officers and a marked car beside blue-and-white police tape sealing off the homes.
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