Exclusive:'There’s clearly more to do' says police chief after 335 shootings in five years
“Officers are working around the clock to keep people safe”
South Yorkshire’s top cop said there’s ‘clearly more to do’ after revealing that although gun crime is declining, 335 shootings have been reported in the last five years.
In the aftermath of the shocking death of Sheffield mum Shanice Brookes, the head of South Yorkshire Police has reassured the city that everything possible is being done to tackle gun crime.
Chief Constable Lauren Poultney spoke exclusively to The Star about the force’s response to gun crime as investigations into the shooting of 30-year-old Shanice continue.
She was an “innocent bystander” who was fatally shot outside a bar on a night out on West Street - one of Sheffield’s busiest party streets.
“First and foremost my thoughts, and the thoughts of everybody here at South Yorkshire Police, are with the family of Shanice,” the police chief said.
“And her friends, and her loved ones, but particularly with her young son. Everything that I’ve heard about her, everything that I’ve read about her shows that she was a vibrant, kind and compassionate young woman who brought out the best in others.
“Her death is utterly tragic and my officers have been working tirelessly to secure justice on her behalf in the days that have followed her senseless death.”
She called on anyone who was at the One Four One Bar on the morning of Shanice’s death (May 25) to get in touch.
“I understand that communities are concerned, and the fact that we have individuals, criminals, who are intent on using firearms is of course a significant concern,” she continued.
“It’s a problem that the police can’t solve alone.”
The chief constable said that gun crime has decreased in South Yorkshire over the past six years, but police are still in need of help from the public, adding: “What we sometimes see is some apathy in the community where a firearms discharge takes place.
“So I would say that if people have got any information from anybody that they think may be connected to firearms, whether that’s using them or storing them on behalf of somebody else - and sometimes that can be a vulnerable person in your local community who’s perhaps being visited by people who cause you concern - then I ask again that people come forward and share that information with us, so we can do everything we can to develop it to ensure that we take all the action available to us to reduce this problem.”
So far in 2026 there have been eight firearms discharges across South Yorkshire, with three people injured as a result - including Shanice.
Kassim Mohammed, 32, was shot dead on Watery Street, Upperthorpe, in September last year but his killer remains at large.
Data from the Office of National Statistics shows gun crime has been on the decline in recent years, revealing that between April 2023 and March 2024, 309 offences involving firearms were recorded in South Yorkshire (excluding air rifles), compared to 164 between the same period in 2024 to 2025.
Similarly, actual discharges have declined, with a high of 101 in 2020- 2021, down to 30 in 2024-2025.
There have 335 discharges in five years.
The data shows that this is still higher than most other regions in Yorkshire.
| Date | April 2020 - March 2021 | April 2021 - March 2022 | April 2022 - March 2023 | April 2023 - March 2024 | April 2024 - March 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. firearm discharges | 101 | 72 | 69 | 63 | 30 |
North Yorkshire recorded 15 firearm discharges between 2024 to 2025, while Humberside recorded only two in the same period.
West Yorkshire consistently recorded 31 discharges each year between 2022 to 2025, with the number of discharges in South Yorkshire only dipping below this in the last year’s data.
Chf Con Poultney said that in 2019 the force introduced a “dedicated” armed crimes team to drive down gun crime.
“We recognised at that time that we were an outlier for firearms discharges and that it was essential we do something about that,” she added.
“We established the armed crime team whose remit is to pursue criminally held firearms and those offenders associated with them. So we’ve taken a really targeted approach, building on the intelligence we receive and the intelligence we develop to target those who we know are causing issues within the community.
“So we’ve seen firearms discharges reduce, we’ve seen firearm seizures increase and we’ve seen more people receive significant custodial sentences as a result of the work that they’ve been doing.”
Officers recovered three viable firearms in 2024, 55 in 2025 and nine in the first quarter of 2026.
It comes after what was described as one of the largest investigations into firearms conversions carried out by the force in 2023, in which 149 VFAs were recovered and 18 people were charged.
But the top cop acknowledged that in the face of Shanice’s death - who in her words was “a lovely vibrant young woman who shouldn’t have been taken” - the force needs to look at what work can be done to keep people safe.
“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved, but there’s clearly more to do - and we won’t stop doing what we need to,” she said.
“My officers and staff are working around the clock to keep people safe, but criminals who are intent on possessing or using a firearm clearly pose a threat to our local communities,” she added.
“That isn’t a problem that we can solve alone - my key message today is to please, if you’ve got any concerns, any doubts about somebody that may be using, thinking about using, or storing a firearm, the please share that information with the police.
“We can take that action available to us to keep our communities safe.”
Of the 355 firearm discharges, seven were fatal, 102 resulted in injuries, while the rest caused no injuries or were only damage to properties.