Police have said that a 19-year-old law student tragically killed in a shooting in Blackburn was an innocent victim.
Aya Hachem, was gunned down whilst shopping with her family on Sunday 17th May.
The teenager was hit by one of several shots fired from a passing car as she walked to a Lidl supermarket to buy food for her family.
She was not the intended target of the daylight attack.Two men have been charged with the murder of law student Aya Hachem in Blackburn.
Feroz Suleman and and Abubakir Satia have been charged with her murder and have also been charged with attempted murder, police have said.
The second charge relates to the man who police believe was the intended target of the attack, in which two shots were fired, one hitting a building and the second killing the 19-year-old law student.
The two men will appear before magistrates on Saturday, while two other men aged 33 and 36 from Blackburn arrested on Monday on suspicion of murder and attempted murder have been released on bail pending further enquiries.
Hachem, a second year student at the University of Salford, was pronounced dead in hospital from a single gunshot wound a short time after emergency services were called to the scene in King Street at about 3pm.
Her distraught parents said she was the “most loyal devoted daughter” who enjoyed spending time with her family. They added she dreamt of becoming a solicitor and had been learning to drive. She was a young trustee for the Children’s Society.
Police said a number of people were travelling in the light green Toyota Avensis from which the shots were fired.
The vehicle, with the registration number SV53 UBP, was abandoned a short time later in nearby Wellington Road and was seized for forensic examination.
Detectives also want to hear from anyone with information about who had been using the car on the day or in the weeks before.
Det Supt Cribbin said: “We are on with a number of lines of inquiry which includes looking at CCTV in the area and we have spoken to a number of key witnesses.
“Despite that, and the arrests, this is a live investigation and I am asking anyone who might know anything about what happened, or the circumstances leading up to Aya being senselessly killed to speak to us.
“Any piece of information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, could prove vital to our investigation.”
Anybody with information should contact 101, quoting log number 0412 of 18 May, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
