Two men have been charged with the attempted murder of a man who is fighting for his life after being shot in Croydon.
The 37-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds in Church Street on Saturday, March 13. The victim’s identity has not been revealed.
Metropolitan Police officers were called to the street shortly after 8:50pm on Saturday. The man was treated at the scene before being taken to the hospital where he remains in a critical condition.
The two men are 30-year-old Pawel Smolinski, of West Molesey, Surrey and 24-year-old Jakub Smolinski, of New Malden, Kingston upon Thames.
They appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Monday, March 15 and were remanded in custody.
The two defendants will next appear at Croydon Crown Court on April 12.
Funding to reduce crime
In early February, Croydon witnessed a series of stabbings that led to a man’s death and left nine others injured.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said to have responded to five reports of stabbings within three hours.
Earlier this month, London Road, West Croydon – which is a tram stop away from Church Street – was awarded £750,000 of funding by a Mayor of London’s new initiative to help reduce crime.
The money, which will be spread over three years, has been awarded to a number of local groups, Croydon Council, the police and the NHS.
This new scheme, under the name MyEnds programme, has been developed to put local communities at the forefront of tackling crime by providing direct funding and support.
The London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has invested a total of £6 million, and Croydon is one of the eight consortiums in London to be granted a share of the funding.
In their press release for the initiative, Lib Decker, Director of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, said: “Through the MyEnds programme we have gained an even deeper understanding of the community strength there is to violence reduction and I’m really looking forward to working with the eight consortiums on solutions to driving down violence and helping them create a safer area they can be even prouder to call home.”
You can read more about it here.
