By Lucy Caulkett-
Masked men produced a short gun and shot a man outside KFC in Benfleet, Essex, leaving him hospitalized on Friday.
The man, not named by police in.order to protect his identity, had literally come out of the KFC, when the masked gun men set on him
He immediately ran back into the KFC, leaving witnesses in the vicinity terrified. The men made their escape in a volkswagen, which was later found burnt out in Bradfields farm, Mulls Road, North Benfleet.
Currently in a stable condition in hospital, his situation is not life threatening. The incidence was communicated to the eye of media.com by the sister of a male witness at the scene, apparently an avid fan of our articles on health.
Her brother, who insisted on not being named, told the eye of media.com “it happened so quickly. I heard shots fired then saw the man run straight back in the KFC screaming “I’ve just been shot”.
A car then took off at full speed, I didn’t see it but heard it was a blue golf. It was definitely a set up, they knew he was there or was going there “.
Speculation by locals in the area is that the man is known to his attackers, and that whilst they clearly have a grudge with him, they deliberately spared his life.
A friend of the witness who spoke to the eye of media.com by phone said ” He is a lucky man because th e men spared his life. They could have killed him if they wanted to, but it was a warning shot.”
The man will have a rough idea of who has issues with him. He knows his own lifestyle and circumstances. They obviously wanted to hurt him and not kill him. They probably didn’t think it was worth killing him”
” They didn’t think it was worth being on the run from murder because police treat murder differently to a gun shot to the legs. Police will investigate for a while, then give up if they don’t find the perpetrators”.
Benfleet is said to generally be a quiet area, though gun men can exist in any part of the country. The likelihood is that someone who knew and saw him there called his enemies to inform him, or his enemies themselves saw him and called their friends to deal with him.
His attackers clearly are annoyed with him for some reason, justified or not justified. And as bad as their actions were, perhaps they should be thanked for soaring the man’s life, as no wrong done by someone really makes them deserved to be killed.