Euston shooting: Priest describes aftermath of ‘drive-by’ outside church following memorial service
A priest has told Sky News of the scenes of “pandemonium” outside his church in London after mourners leaving a memorial service were shot at from a moving car.
Parish Priest Father Jeremy Trood had just finished a requiem mass for a mother and daughter at St Aloysius Church on Phoenix Road, near Euston station, when the drive-by shooting took place outside on Saturday afternoon.
Six people were injured in the incident, including a seven-year-old girl who remains in a stable but critical condition, and a 48-year-old woman who suffered potentially life-changing injuries.
A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said in the early hours of Monday.
Mr Trood said he heard the gunshot shortly after mourners left the church to release doves outside.
“I was inside the church and suddenly there was an enormous bang and people rushed back into the church screaming and saying shots had been fired,” he said.
“There are no words that can describe what had happened and I can’t imagine why anybody could possibly do such a thing. There were hundreds of people in the church coming out. It was pandemonium.”
Pic: Simon Lamrock
Father Trood said some people took shelter in the church.
“They were very scared, people sheltered in the church until the police said they can leave, but some of them were so scared they had to wait a while to get their confidence back up to go outside,” he added.
As well as the seven-year-old girl and 48-year-old woman, three other women – aged 21, 41 and 54 – and a 12-year-old girl were also injured in the attack.
The 12-year-old suffered leg injuries but has since been discharged from hospital, police have said. She is expected to make a full recovery.
Superintendent Jack Rowlands, from the Metropolitan Police, said the force believes a gunshot was fired from a moving car at about 1.30pm before it drove away from the scene.
He described the incident as a “senseless act of violence”.
People who attended the memorial service at the church in Phoenix Road told Sky News they do not know why it happened.
The memorial was held for Sara Sanchez (right) and her mother Fresia Calderon. Pic: GoFundMe
The shooting took place after the ceremony held in memory of 20-year-old Sara Sanchez and her mother, Fresia Calderon, who died within a month of one another in November.
Ms Sanchez died following a battle with leukaemia, while her mother Ms Calderon died suddenly from a rare blood clot on arrival at Heathrow from Colombia, MyLondon reported.
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Panic inside church after shooting
Those who knew the mother and daughter said those hurt in the incident were attending the service in their memory.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan described the attack as a “deeply distressing incident”.
A member of rap trio Kneecap was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at court this morning, charged with allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year.
Demonstrators waving flags and holding banners in support of the rapper greeted him with cheers as he made his way into Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The rapper is mobbed by fans and media as he arrives at court. Pics: PA
Supported by his Kneecap bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, it took the rapper more than a minute to enter the building as security officers worked to usher him inside through a crowd of photographers.
Fans held signs which read “Free Mo Chara”, while others waved Irish and Palestinian flags.
As the hearing got under way, O hAnnaidh confirmed his name, date of birth and address, with the court hearing an Irish language interpreter would be present.
During a previous hearing, prosecutors said the 27-year-old is “well within his rights” to voice his opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but said the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town was a “wholly different thing”.
O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.
Bandmates Naoise O Caireallain (pictured, centre) and JJ O Dochartaigh are supporting O hAnnaidh. Pic: Reuters
Who are Kneecap?
Kneecap put out their first single in 2017 and rose to wider prominence in 2024 after the release of their debut album and an eponymously titled film – a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and their fight to save the Irish language.
The film, in which the trio play themselves and co-star alongside starring Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, won the BAFTA for outstanding debut earlier this year, for director and writer Rich Peppiatt.
Last year, they won a discrimination case against the UK government after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was business secretary.
They are known for songs including H.O.O.D, Fine Art, and Better Way To Live, featuring Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten.
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A council has won its bid to temporarily block asylum seekers from being housed at a hotel in Essex.
Epping Forest District Council sought an interim injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Limited.
A government attempt to delay the application was rejected by the High Court judge earlier on Tuesday.
The interim injunction now means the hotel has to be cleared of its occupants within 14 days.
Somani Hotels said it intended to appeal the decision.
Several protests have been held outside the hotel in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.
Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
At a hearing last week, barristers for the council claimed Somani Hotels breached planning rules because the site is not being used for its intended purpose as a hotel.
Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said the problem was “getting out of hand” and “causing great anxiety” to local people.
He said the hotel “is no more a hotel [to asylum seekers] than a borstal to a young offender”.
File pic: PA
Piers Riley-Smith, for Somani Hotels Limited, said a “draconian” injunction would cause “hardship” for those in the hotel, arguing “political views” were not grounds for an injunction to be granted.
He also said contracts to house asylum seekers were a “financial lifeline” for the hotel, which was only 1% full in August 2022, when it was open to paying customers.
Protesters and counter-demonstrators outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
The hotel housed migrants from May 2020 to March 2021, then from October 2022 to April 2024, with the council never instigating any formal enforcement proceedings against this use, Mr Riley-Smith said.
They were being placed there again in April 2025 and Mr Riley-Smith said a planning application was not made “having taken advice from the Home Office”.
At the end of the hearing last week, Mr Justice Eyre ordered that Somani Hotels could not “accept any new applications” from asylum seekers to stay at the site until he had made his ruling on the temporary injunction.
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