Chilling CCTV shows Connor Chapman opening fire outside pub killing Elle Edwards
Horrifying footage has been released that shows the moment Connor Chapman opened fire and shot Elle Edwards dead outside a pub in Wirral.
The 23-year-old was today found guilty of murdering the popular beautician at the Lighthouse pub on Christmas Eve last year following a three-and-a-half week trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
She was described as the "wholly innocent" victim of an attack which followed a series of "tit for tat" incidents involving rival gangs based on the Woodchurch and Beechwood estates.
Merseyside Police have now released shocking CCTV footage showing Chapman skulking between parked cars and along the building line while dressed in dark clothing and with his head covered. He briefly waits at a corner before emerging and opening fire at a crowd of people, who are not shown in the video, outside.
Flashes of light can be seen as he discharges a Skorpion submachine gun a total of 12 times. The shooter then sprints to a stolen Mercedes A Class, enters the driver's seat and speeds away from the scene.
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Elle Edwards was killed in the shooting (Liverpool Echo)
Connor Chapman has been found guilty of murder (Liverpool Echo)The court previously heard that career criminal and self-confessed cocaine dealer Chapman, said to have been "at the heart" of the Woodchurch organised crime group, lurked outside the busy pub for nearly three hours before carrying out the shooting.
Elle was seen on CCTV inside the Lighthouse happily chatting with friends before going outside for a cigarette at 11.47pm.
Minutes later, the gunman emerged from the shadows and fired a volley of shots towards a group stood by the entrance to the Lighthouse with the military grade weapon.
Chapman opening fire at pub (Merseyide Police)He then immediately went to the home of his "criminal associate" 20-year-old Thomas Waring, who was said to have taken custody of the gun before helping to torch the car a week later on New Year's Eve.
The intended targets of the shooting were said to have been Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, the former having been stood next to Elle when Chapman unleashed his hail of bullets. She was struck twice in the head and once in the shoulder and died as a result of her injuries aged 26.
A photo of a Skorpion submachine gun like that used in the attack (PA)Jurors were told that this had been the culmination of an ongoing violent feud with the firm from Beechwood, also known as the Ford Estate.
The previous day, Salkeld and Duffy had been caught on a Ring doorbell camera dishing out a savage beating to Woodchurch OCG member Sam Searson on Highfield Road in Rock Ferry.
The killer seen arriving at the Lighthouse pub (PA)Earlier in the month, Curtis Byrne was shot on Orrets Meadow Road in Woodchurch. And Kieran Cowley was injured on a shooting - in which the same Glock pistol was used - on Newark Close in Noctorum, close to the address of a man called Mason Smith.
Duffy had previously been seen on CCTV in the process of carrying out a raid on an Amazon delivery truck inside a stolen Ford Kuga car which was used in the commission of the latter assault. Chapman had been linked to a burglary involving both Byrne and Smith in November 2022, in which two electric bikes were stolen from a shed at an address on Thirlmere Avenue in Noctorum.
Elle with her dad Tim EdwardsSalkeld suffered organ damage after one bullet penetrated his chest during the Lighthouse shooting, while Duffy was shot in both legs. Three other "innocent bystanders" - Liam Carr, Harry Loughran and Nicholas Speed - were also struck and injured.
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Chapman was convicted of murder by a jury of seven women and five men after three hours and 48 minutes of deliberations. He was also found guilty of attempting to murder Salkeld and Duffy, wounding with intent against Mr Duffy and Mr Loughran, assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Mr Speed and possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Waring, of Private Drive in Barnston, was convicted of possession of a prohibited weapon and assisting an offender. Both will be sentenced on Friday.
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