Man shot in his car during Croydon riot dies

A YOUNG man shot in his car during Monday night’s “unprecedented” rioting died yesterday.

A murder hunt was launched as police announced that the 26- year-old victim had died after being admitted to hospital.

He was discovered in a car suffering from gunshot wounds at about 9.15pm as trouble flared up in Croydon, south London.

Scotland Yard has described the violent scenes as the worst it had seen “in current memory” for the “unacceptable levels of widespread looting, fires and disorder”.

Along with the 26- year-old who was fatally shot, a total of 44 officers were wounded in the capital and a man in his 60s suffered life-threatening head injuries.

Commander Simon Foy said the man was found inside the car and taken to a south London hospital, where he died yesterday morning.

Officers from the force’s Trident unit are investigating.

Meanwhile, David Cam- eron has demanded that police are to be more “robust” in their response to the rioters, in apparent criticism of the Met’s handling of the violence.

In a short statement, the British prime minister condemned what he said were “sickening scenes of people looting, vandalising, thieving, robbing”.

“This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted and defeated.”

While police officers had shown great bravery in dealing with the violence, “it is quite clear that we need more, much more police on our streets and we need even more robust police action.”

All Metropolitan Police leave had been cancelled and reinforcements called in from other forces, he said – taking the number patrolling the capital from 6,000 to 16,000 last night.

“Many more” arrests were to be expected, Mr Cameron said, warning young people involved: “You will feel the full force of the law.”