Father and toddler son escape shoot-out at Liverpool's Rocket junction

Nov 30 2009 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

A FATHER and his two-year-old son were targeted in a shoot-out at one of Liverpool’s busiest junctions.

Dozens of police officers converged on the Rocket junction of Queens Drive and Edge Lane Drive on Friday after shots were fired at a car at about 8.30pm.

The man was driving his black Ford Focus towards the M62 with his two-year-old son in the passenger seat when the occupants of a black Vauxhall Astra pulled alongside and flashed their gun.

In an effort to escape the man jumped the red light, colliding with a red Ford Focus travelling in the opposite direction under the Queens Drive flyover.

The offenders in the black Astra drove past the crash firing at least nine bullets at the car before driving the wrong way down Queens Drive towards the Fiveways.

The Astra, which was stolen from Lytham St Annes two days earlier, was later found abandoned and burnt out in Ashfield, Wavertree.

The man and his son escaped uninjured and were seen fleeing from the car across the carriageway into a Williams Hill bookmakers.

The woman driver of the other car suffered shock and minor whiplash.

Detectives said the motive for the shooting was unclear although they believe it to be targeted.

Detective Superintendent Martin Andrew said: “We are determined to get these weapons and the people involved off the streets of Merseyside.

“The offenders showed a dangerous disregard for members of the public who were in the area at the time, and it is pure good fortune, given the busy nature of this junction, that no-one was injured or even killed, as a result of their actions.