Violence rising on Midlands streets as gangs re-emerge from lockdown
Violence is on the rise in the West Midlands as gangs are "coming out of lockdown", the region's police and crime commissioner has said.
David Jamieson said there had been a "large increase in gun discharges" and a rise in street violence in recently days.
Mr Jamieson was speaking after a man was shot in the leg in Wolverhampton on Thursday evening and a series of shootings in Birmingham.
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Speaking at a West Midlands Combined Authority briefing on Friday afternoon, Mr Jamieson said: "We are now seeing the increase of violence on the streets. We are seeing the gangs – they too are now coming out of lockdown.
"We have seen quite a large increase of gun discharges across the West Midlands, mainly in and around the centre of Birmingham, but really in all areas.
"The gangs now are fighting for territory and they are getting really quite bold."
He added: "That violence that we have known before is there now manifesting itself and my concern is if we don't address the problem of unemployment, those levels of violence are going to increase – and they are going to increase by the time we get to July and August, if we don't actually address those issues."
