Three men have been arrested for conspiracy to murder after a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire and shot a nine-year-old girl in the head outside a Turkish cafe in Dalston in May.
The arrests are related to the incident which happened on Kingsland High Street in Dalston, north east London, at 9.20pm on May 29, 2024.
Driving a stolen Ducati Monster motorbike, the suspected gunman opened fire on three men sitting outside the cafe.
The innocent child, from Birmingham, was out ‘for ice cream’ at the Evin restaurant visiting family in London when she became caught up in the shooting between two rival drug gangs.
The man thought to be the intended target, Beytullah Gunduz, 37, escaped unharmed, while three men – aged 37, 41, and 44 – of Turkish origin believed to have ties to the drugs gang ‘Bombacilar’, were all injured.
Gunduz, who has links to the criminal world in Turkey, had been at the restaurant but left for a 15 minute period. When he returned he found three of his friends shot and the innocent child lying on the restaurant floor.
Following the attack, Gunduz was said to be distraught that the innocent schoolgirl had been injured, wishing he had been shot in the head instead.
In the early hours of Tuesday, three men, aged 36, 35 and 28, were arrested and have since been released on bail pending further investigation.
The family of the girl, who suffered serious injuries, have been told about the arrests and continue to be supported by specially trained officers.
Forensic officers pictured outside Evin restaurant, where the horror drive-by shooting took place on May 29
Driving a Ducati Monster motorbike, the suspected gunman opened fire on three men sitting outside the cafe, believed to be his targetsÂ
The Met previously released pictures of the Ducati Monster motorbike with hopes it would help find the suspected gunman
Emergency services on the scene in Dalston, east London, after the shooting
The young girl’s parents revealed in July that almost two months on she was still unable to speak or move properly after she was struck in the head by a bullet.
‘We are devastated about what has happened, our daughter remains stable but in a critical condition,’ her parents said at the time.
They added: ‘She only went there for ice cream and now we do not know if we will ever get our daughter back to being the smart, funny girl that she was before and whether she will be able to ever speak or move properly again.
‘We need our child back and we are all praying for her full recovery, please respect our wishes for privacy for ourselves and the rest of the family at this difficult time.’
It was previously reported that a leading gangster in the Hackney Bombers gang – who once controlled 90 per cent of the UK’s heroin trade – was the intended target of the Dalston shooting.
Founder of the group Abdullah Baybasin had been spotted out in Barcelona weeks before the shooting in London with a German-Turk gangster Tekin Kartal, 30, who was shot dead shortly after leaving.
While Baybasin’s gang denied responsibility on social media, fears were sparked that the Dalston shooting could have been a revenge hit.
