Gran blasted with sawn-off shotgun by masked gang when she stopped gardening to stop them shooting neighbour
A GRAN was blasted with "a sawn-off shotgun" when she stopped mowing the lawn to intervene before a revenge attack.
Two masked men on motorbikes called at the pensioner's home in Clifton, Manchester, after visiting a series of addresses seeking retribution for a robbery.
The woman, 65, was struck in the leg and abdomen after being fired at with a sawn-off shotgun,
It appears the shotgun may have been an airgun after police confirmed she suffered "pellet wounds".
Cops don't think she was the masked men's intended target and believe she might have been fired at by accident.
She was rushed to hospital after the shooting at roughly 5.25pm on Friday and her injuries were not life-threatening.
Manchester Evening News journalists learned that two masked men on motorbikes had been knocking on doors in the area from 4pm that day.
It has been reported locally they were seeking revenge after a friend was robbed.
Police believe the elderly women approached the men before she was shot in the leg near the junction of Billy Lane and Rake Lane.
An eyewitnesses reported the shooting to the police.
It is understood the gran and her family are yet to have given a detailed of account of what happened to police.
Cops are anxious the shooting will spark tit-for-tat attacks in Salford, Manchester.
However the attempted revenge attack is not thought to be connected to a ongoing gangland feud across Salford.
Cops in the city are already on high alert after a rise in shootings since January 2015.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "At around 5.20pm on Friday, September 2, police were called to Billy Lane, Clifton, to reports of a shooting.
"Officers attended and found that a 65-year-old woman had suffered pellet wounds to the leg and was taken to hospital for treatment.
"An investigation has been launched and enquiries are ongoing."
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