02 June 2024 , 07:53
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A nine-year-old schoolgirl fighting for her life after being shot in the head in a drive-by shooting as she ate out in a restaurant has started responding to her parents' voices.
The girl was shot at as she ate a meal with her family at a restaurant in Hackney, east London, on Wednesday night. Her parents travelled down from Birmingham to see friends and only stopped as the girl started to feel hungry.
A gunman, on a Ducati Monster motorbike stopped outside the Evin restaurant in Kingsland High Street just after 9pm and opened fire on three men sitting outside, who are believed to be his targets. The men, who were of Turkish origin, aged 37, 42 and 44, were injured in the shooting.
Several people were shot at at the Hackney restaurant (PA)The girl was struck by one of the bullets that was understood to be lodged in her head. One of the victims was discharged from hospital and the other two men are being were said to have non-life-threatening injuries. MailOnline reported the girl has been on a ventilator since Wednesday.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told The Mirror there were no further updates regarding arrests or the victims' conditions.
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Doctors performed one operation on the girl but were unable to remove the bullet, a family friend told MailOnline. But by Friday, doctors started reducing her sedation and found that she was able to respond to her parents and squeezed her dad's hand.
"She is on a ventilator but she is responding to some things, which is good," the family friend told the outlet. "When they [her parents] say something, she responds, like moving her finger.
The little girl continues to receive treatment in hospital (PA)"Her father spoke with her this morning and she responded, she squeezed his hand, she pressed it." He added doctors will attempt to remove the bullet in another operation though that might be some days away.
The friend, who said he speaks regularly with the girl's dad on the phone, said her parents were optimistic. He said: "Doctors are saying it will be good."
The parents, both reported to be IT professionals were visiting the capital during the girl's half-term holiday to see friends. They only visited the restaurant after the girl said she was hungry, according to the family friend.
The motorbike used in the shooting had red wheels and the registration plate DP21 OXY, was said to have been stolen from a home in Wembley, north London. Police have appealed to London's Turkish and Kurdish communities for more information about the attack.