Student dies after being shot for refusing to hand over his laptop and £10,000
Khurram Ashraf was confronted and gunned down outside south Manchester money exchange
Helen Carter guardian.co.uk,
Friday 4 December 2009
A student who moved to Britain for a better life died after being shot twice at point-blank range as he refused to hand over his laptop and £10,000.
Khurram Ashraf, 30, moved to the UK from Rawali, in the Punjab region of Pakistan, on a student visa five years ago. Friends described him as "a highly educated gentleman" who worked part-time at a cash exchange in Longsight, south Manchester.
He was shot in the stomach outside Global Forex, based in a house in Stamford Road, at 6.20pm yesterday. A colleague, Mohammed Waqas, was pistol-whipped in the face with the butt of the gun.
Ashraf died in hospital in Manchester in the early hours of this morning. The gunman also stole his laptop.
A 20-year-old man from Longsight has been arrested by Greater Manchester police on suspicion of murder. The arrested man was being questioned by detectives but had not yet been charged with any offence.
The area was cordoned off in the aftermath of the shooting and the force's helicopter was brought in to search for the gunman.
Mr Ashfraf came to the UK on a student visa and was working while studying. He was unmarried, but had a cousin who lives in this country. He was leaving the premises with Mr Waqas, 32, when they were ambushed. Mr Waqas had parked his silver Mercedes 500 SL outside the property and they were about to climb in to the vehicle when the gunman jumped in front of them.
A friend, who did not want to be named, said: "He must have been waiting for them and at first they both thought it was a prank – a joke by one of their friends because they could not believe it to be true.
"But when the man pulled out a small pistol and shoved it into Mr Waqas's stomach and screamed: 'Give me the bag,' they knew it was really happening.
"Mr Waqas threw the money bag over to Khurram, who was standing on the other side of the car holding his laptop. The killer then cracked him over the jaw with the butt of his pistol, walked round to Khurram and repeated: 'Give me the money.' But Khurram resisted. He just said: 'No.' The man just shot him twice, at point-blank range. One of the bullets hit him in the stomach."
The firm runs a service that allows families to wire money back to their relatives in Pakistan. It also lends money and acts as a pawnbroker.
The friend described Mr Ashraf as "a gentleman, very nice and polite to everyone". He had worked at the shop for two months.
Businessman Shahzad Ahmed, who runs a shop a few yards away, said he had been told Mr Ashraf was robbed a few days earlier as he went to pay in the takings.
Detective Superintendent Serena Kennedy said: "This investigation is in the very early stages, but this is clearly a tragic incident that has resulted in a man losing his life.
"Our initial inquiries have established the victim and his friends were confronted and then at some point, the weapon was fired and sadly the victim was hit. That injury proved fatal. I understand there will be concerns in the community at this time, and I would like to reassure people we are doing everything we can to find out what happened."
She said it appeared to be a tragic, isolated incident and appealed to anyone with information to contact police. A postmortem examination was taking place.
Source:
Student dies after being shot for refusing to hand over his laptop and £10,000 | World news | guardian.co.uk
Student dies after being shot for refusing to hand over his laptop and £10,000
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