Southampton leg shooting: Stolen getaway car found

The injured man remains in hospital for treatment to non-life threatening injuries

A stolen getaway car used during a shooting in Southampton has been recovered by police.

The blue BMW with a cloned number plate - BJ57 TFF - was found in a Hollybrook Road in the city after police appealed for information about it.

A 27-year-old man who was shot in the leg in Vanguard Road in Bitterne remains in hospital.

Police continue to question two men on suspicion of attempted murder. Seven people in total have been arrested.

The two men still in custody are a 25-year-old man from London and an 18-year-old Southampton man.

A 15-year-old boy, arrested on suspicion of firearms offences, and a 38-year-old man, held on suspicion of attempted murder, have been bailed until 6 March.

A woman, aged 18, and man, aged 19, both arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, were bailed until 22 March.

Another 25-year-old man has been released with no further action being taken.

Weapons 'passed on'

Officers were called to the Tesco store at 19:17 GMT on Sunday when the victim was receiving treatment after apparently having been shot near a house in Vanguard Road.

Det Insp Adam Price said the 27-year-old was lucky to have survived.

He said: "It could very easily have been a murder.

"The man was shot twice so it's being treated in the same way that a murder inquiry would be treated, with the same resources put into it for those reasons."

He said police were still searching for a handgun.

Det Insp Price added: "We know that members of the criminal fraternity tend not to discard weapons and are more likely to pass it around criminal associates.

"I would like to reassure members of the public that we will be relentless in our pursuit to take this weapon off the streets."

An area inside the block of flats in Vanguard Road remains cordoned off while forensic and ballistics experts continue their investigations.

Hampshire Constabulary said a team of 40 officers had been working on the investigation.

They are still urging anyone who saw the getaway car, a blue BMW 1 series, on the day of the shooting, before or after, being driven in or around Southampton.

This registration number belongs to a genuine BMW1 series car in Aldershot which is totally unconnected with the incident in Southampton, police said.