'We won't tolerate hate' Appeal to turn in cowards who shot girl, nine

MORE details have emerged about the racist shooting of a nine-year-old girl in Bristol earlier this month, as police step up the hunt for two yobs who targeted the girl in the street in the north of the city.

- Tristan CORK

The police chief leading the investigation described it as a “cowardly, thuggish attack”, and said the police and the community “won't tolerate hate in the city”.

Speaking near the scene in Brentry, DCI Keith Smith outlined the level of resources Avon and Somerset were putting into finding the two teenagers, who a local Conservative councillor described as “despicable scum”, as both community leaders and the force urged those who know who did it to tell police.

The attack happened on Chakeshill Drive in Brentry, on the very northern edge of Bristol. DCI Smith said it happened out of the blue at lunchtime on Tuesday, September 2, the penultimate day of the summer holidays for local schools.

“The little girl has been walking down the road,’ explained DCI Smith. “Two males have approached her on electric scooters and then fired the weapon at her, and then as they are making off they've been racially abusive and used racially offensive language as they have left the scene.

“It’s just a cowardly, thuggish attack. Obviously we won't tolerate hate crime, we won't tolerate hate in the city, and we will investigate it and we will pursue those who commit such acts,’ the Det Chief Inspector said.