Euston gunman fired into church after funeral of cancer victim, 20, and her mother

Aseven-year-old girl was caught in the crossfire of a ‘revenge attack’ in north London, as a gunman fired into a busy church after a funeral trying to hunt down a target, it is claimed.

Officers are trying to track down the gunmen who opened fire outside the church (Picture: Getty/Fresia Calderon)© Provided by Metro

Police are hunting down the gunmen responsible for a devastating mass shooting that injured six people.

The victims were shot as they exited a funeral service for British-Colombian cancer victim Sara Sanchez, 20, and her mother Fresia Calderon, 50, outside St Aloysius church on Phoenix Road opposite Euston railway station about 1.30pm on Saturday.

A police source told The Mail on Sunday a man jumped out of the car and started firing into the crowd as white doves – symbols of peace – were released.

It is believed the gunman may have been targeting a guest at the funeral as part of a revenge attack.

They said: ‘People are saying the intended target of the shooting was a man who attended the service,’ one woman from the funeral said last night. ‘There’s speculation that it was some sort of revenge attack.’

The Met Police said six people were injured in the attack; four women aged 21, 41, 48 and 54, along with two children aged 12 and seven.

Single mum Fresia Calderon and her daughter Sara Sanchez (Picture: GoFundMe)© Provided by Metro

Mourners had gathered for Sara and Fresia’s funeral (Picture: Fresia Calderon)© Provided by Metro

It marks one of the worst mass shootings in London for decades.

The seven-year-old girl ‘remains in hospital in a life threatening condition’ after she was rushed to a hospital with a major trauma centre as a priority.

Horrified witnesses revealed they had to run for cover as a black car pulled up and ‘started shooting bullets’ out of nowhere into the crowd, who had gathered to celebrate the lives of the mother-daughter duo, who died within a month of each other in November.

One witness claimed a suspect appeared to be chased into nearby Euston station.

No arrests have been made and Met Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward and assist with the investigation.

Fresia Calderon died after suffering a pulmonary embolism after she arrived to Heathrow from Colombia on November 5.

Her daughter Sara Sanchez, who had been diagnosed with leukaemia three years ago, succumbed 25 days later after ‘giving up all hope’, according to a family member.

Sara was diagnosed with leukaemia in May 2020 and after six months of chemotherapy experienced two years in remission. She relapsed in July 2021 and required a bone marrow transplant.

It was her mother who instilled hope that she would recover on days when she otherwise felt like giving up. So after Fresia’s sudden and unexpected death, relatives say she struggled to carry on.

The duo, along with Sara’s younger brother, had travelled to Colombia for a ‘final goodbye’ and were on their way back when Fresia collapsed in front of both children.

Father Jeremy Trood, who conducted the service at St Aloysius church, said: ‘I heard a big bang and police are in the church at moment. People who were leaving the church have rushed back in.’

He described the ceremony as a ‘Requiem Mass’ rather than a funeral.

‘They were very scared, people sheltered in the church until the police said they can leave but some of them were so scared they had to wait a while to get their confidence back up to go outside.

‘But I was in the church the whole time so I didn’t actually see what had happened.’

Pictures posted on Instagram last night from the funeral showed how a photograph of Fresia and Sara hugging each other had been placed by the altar during the service.

Mourners invited to the ‘celebration mass’ for the two women were asked to wear white.

Stephanie, who lives near the church, said her 11-year-old daughter had been walking home from a friend’s house and saw someone lying on the ground before the police arrived. She added that an emergency services helicopter had made an aborted landing in front of their home before flying off and eventually landing in a nearby school playground.

When emergency services arrived at the scene, they found the victims suffering bullet wounds on a small side street near Euston station.

It is the latest case of innocent bystanders getting caught up gun crime plaguing the UK.

Elle Edwards, 26, was shot dead in the beer garden of the Lighthouse Pub in Wallasey, Merseyside, on Christmas Eve.

Deliveroo moped rider Guilherme Messias Da Silva, 23, was hit and killed by a driver who was shot eight times in a gang shooting in Brixton last October.

Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead after a masked gunman burst into her home in Dovecot, Liverpool last August.

Council worker Ashley Dale, 28, suffered fatal gunshot wounds in the garden of her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, last August.

19-year-old Rio Jones of Liverpool was last week jailed for life for opening fire in Toxteth, shooting a 15-year-old schoolgirl in the neck in March 2022.

Three-year-old Sophie Martyn was killed alongside her father Lee during a shooting spree in Plymouth in which six people died in August 2021.

Four gangsters were jailed after fashion student Natalie Bignall, 32 was hit by a stray bullet outside a pub in Hackney, east London in November 2020.