LONDON - Police were hunting today the killer of a young woman shot dead in what detectives believe was a long-running dispute about parking spaces that got out of hand.
Krystal Hart, 22, was found with a gunshot wound by police in the hallway of her flat in
Battersea, south London, on Friday shortly after 11am.
Media reports said she was three months pregnant.
"We believe that this horrific murder could be the result of a disproportionate escalation of a neighbour dispute, possibly over parking and we are actively considering this as a line of inquiry," said Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton.
Police said two shots had been fired, one of which had hit Hart. Detectives are retrieving CCTV footage from the building where the shooting took place and are appealing to any witnesses to come forward.
"She was looking forward to being a mum," Hart's stepfather Clive Lawrence told the Daily Telegraph.
"All I heard was what sounded like two backfires of a car. It was only later that I discovered it was my stepdaughter who had been shot."
The Sun newspaper reported that Hart had at one time worked as a secretary for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Her death came a day after the funeral of 15-year-old Billy Cox, shot in his home in Clapham, south London.
Cox and two other teenagers were shot dead in separate incidents in south London in February, sparking intense political debate about violent crime and gang culture.
Schoolboy Michael Dosunmu, 15, was shot in his bedroom in Peckham days after James Smartt-Ford, 16, was gunned down at Streatham ice rink.
After the three killings, Prime Minister Tony Blair said the murders were "tragic beyond belief" but rejected Conservative Party claims that they reflected a wider malaise in society.
- REUTERS
