Woman Shot and Killed in East London

A 42-year-old woman was fatally shot in east London on Tuesday evening in a rare deadly shooting, the authorities said.

Police found three people with gunshot wounds. The woman, whose name has not been released, died at the scene. A 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were taken to a hospital, where their conditions are being assessed, Metropolitan Police said in a news release.

The shooting occurred in the Hackney neighborhood at about 6:30 p.m. local time. No arrests have been made.

Shootings, and guns, are far less common in British cities than in the United States. Firearms are strictly regulated in the United Kingdom. Residents must obtain a license from the police if they wish to own a gun. Certain types of guns are outlawed altogether. For instance, Parliament eventually banned handguns after the 1996 Dunblane massacre, a deadly school shooting, which killed 16 schoolchildren and one teacher.

The investigation is still in its “early stages,” Detective Superintendent Vicky Tunstall, from the local policing team in Hackney, said in a statement.

“This shocking incident has resulted in the death of a woman and my thoughts are with her family at this incredibly difficult time,” she said. “My thoughts are also with the two people who have been taken to hospital.”

There were 28 homicide victims killed by shooting in all of England and Wales in 2022, according to the Office of National Statistics.