Man on the trail of his stolen bike shot in stomach

A CYCLIST was shot after a Facebook trail following the theft of his bike led him to the door of a gun-toting drug dealer.

- By ESTHER HALLIGAN

The victim turned up at the house of Luis Fonseca, 21, in Cameron Road, Hartlepool, who he suspected had stolen his push bike while he was on holiday with his family in Disneyland, Paris.

Fonseca left his house, off Raby Road, in a taxi, to go to the address of his associate, Derem Turner.

The victim, and a group of men he had with him, followed the cab on the six-minute journey to Turner's house in Garside Drive, in the town’s West View area. The court heard the victim, armed with a plank of wood, “advanced towards” Fonseca.

Within seconds, Fonseca produced a handgun and fired “a warning shot” at the group, before he shot the bike owner in the abdomen, with the bullet passing through his liver before leaving his body. He suffered “life-threatening injuries” from the bullet wound and his friends rushed him to hospital.