Gang Members Convicted After Drive-By Shooting at Funeral Left Women and Girls Injured

A police officer guards the scene of a shooting outside St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church in Euston, central London, on Jan. 15, 2023. PA

Four men have been convicted in connection with a drive-by shooting at a funeral outside a church in central London in January 2023.

Four women and two girls were seriously injured when the attackers fired a shotgun at a crowd of mourners who were about to release doves following a service for Fresia Calderon, 50, and her daughter, Sara Sanchez, 20.

Tyrell La Croix, 23, Alrico Nelson-Martin, 20, Jordan Walters, 24, and Jashy Perch, 20, were convicted of conspiracy to wound with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after a trial at Kingston Crown Court.

Nelson-Martin was also found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The trial heard the men were from the Agar Grove gang in Camden—sometimes known as the Active Gxng—and it is believed they were targeting rivals from the Cumbo gang who were attending the funeral.

La Croix is a well-known drill rapper known as TScam.

It remains unclear why he and the others were not charged with attempted murder.

The drive-by shooting naturally hit the headlines at the time. A 7-year-old girl was taken to hospital in a critical condition, while a 48-year-old woman suffered a potentially life-changing injury.

A 12-year-old girl was hit in the leg, and three other women, aged 21, 41, and 54, were also wounded.

Starmer Called for Tougher Gun Laws After Shooting

The leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer—in whose constituency it took place—used the incident to call for tougher gun laws.

At the time of the shooting there was lurid speculation that it was linked to Colombian drugs cartels.

But by the time the case came to trial a year later the mainstream media had lost interest and the only reporter who attended was from a local newspaper, the Camden New Journal.

The trial heard one of the women who survived the shooting, but cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered post-traumatic disorder as a result.

The woman said: “I saw a flash of light and heard a loud bang ... I thought to myself ‘what’s that? Who on earth would let off a firework during the day?’”

Her finger, legs, and stomach were bleeding and when she got to hospital, doctors removed seven shotgun pellets.

Forensics officers work at the scene of a shooting that reportedly happened during a funeral at St. Aloysius Church, in London, on Jan. 14, 2023. Henry Nicholls/Reuters

The killers later dumped and set on fire the Toyota C-HR car used in the shooting.

At the time of the shooting, Sir Keir told LBC: “We’ve had these incidents from time to time with guns. And every time there’s evidence, which I am concerned about, that people have access to guns that they shouldn’t have access to.”

“So I think that we need to look again as to whether those laws are strong enough. That may or may not help this particular case,” he added.

The funeral service was being held for Ms. Calderon, who died on Nov. 5, 2022 after collapsing at Heathrow Airport shortly after arriving on a flight from Colombia.

Her death was later attributed to a pulmonary embolism, a rare blood clot often associated with being immobile during long flights.

Her heartbroken daughter, Ms. Sanchez, died of leukaemia just 25 days after her mother.

Cardinal Prayed for Injured Mourners

At the time of the shooting Cardinal Vincent Nichols from St. Aloysius Church called on parishioners to pray for the injured mourners.

The feud between the Agar Grove gang, and their allies, and an alliance led by the Cumbo gang—whose name derives from the Cumberland Market estate—is one of the capital’s most violent.

In May last year Tariq Monteiro, an Agar Grove drill rapper known as Suspect, was jailed for life for the murder of Cumbo drill rapper Culprit, whose real name was Alex Smith.

Detective Inspector Darren Jones, from the Met’s specialist crime Trident investigation team, said: “These dangerous men brought unimaginable fear and horror to the streets of London. They cowardly shot at mourners as they gathered outside a church. The innocent women and girls who were injured will have to deal with the impact of that for the rest of their lives.”

TScam and the other three men will be sentenced on April 11.

PA Media contributed to this report.