SIX QUIZZED OVER STREET SHOOTING

Hertfordshire Police said five men - four in their 20s and one in his mid-30s - were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after the incident in Letchworth Garden City.

A woman in her 30s was also held over the gun attack in Boscombe Court at about 11.40am on Thursday.

Police said the shooting was an isolated incident and they were not looking for anyone else but refused to confirm whether the shooting was related to gang or drug dealing activity in the area.

Neighbours reported that the shooting may have been sparked by an argument over a crash between two cars being raced around the town.

The two injured men - who were still conscious when paramedics arrived - were taken to hospital, where where their conditions were described as "serious but not life-threatening".

Rachel Wilding, who lives opposite the scene of the shooting, said she heard four gunshots ring out.

She came out of her house to see one black youth lying injured in the street and found another some yards away who had apparently been attacked with a hammer.

Mrs Wilding, 34, the mother of a three-year-old boy, said she initially thought the bangs were a car backfiring but left her house to see a gang of up to 10 mainly black teenagers on the streets, many of them screaming.

"The guy that had been shot, he was just lying on the ground, he looked quite lifeless, in the car park," she said. "The other guy looked terrible. He couldn't move, he was really in agony, holding his ribs. He'd been attacked with a hammer in his ribs and was lying on the floor by the shops."