A 26-year-old man has been gunned down in Birmingham’s second fatal shooting in less than a week.

The victim was found mortally wounded in the suburb of Stechford shortly before 8pm last night.

It comes after Nassir Francis, 22, was shot in the stomach at 12.30pm on Wednesday in Birmingham’s Lozells area, dying shortly after arriving at hospital.

In an emotional tribute, his family called him a ‘warm entity’ who gave them a ‘sense of identity’.

They added: ‘A deep comfort has been lost by his mother and siblings. A much loved and respected young man in his community, Naasir’s charming personality, birthed a light of spiritedness in the eyes of his family, a light that has dulled since his passing.’

It followed a weekend of violence in the city, which saw six people stabbed in just 12 hours, leaving one person dead.

The week before that, four young men were left injured in two double shootings 14 hours apart.

Warning that ‘things may get worse’, Birmingham’s deputy police and crime commissioner Waheed Saleem said: ‘The recent upsurge in violence, including these recent shootings is very worrying.

‘I’ve been saying for sometime now that the criminals are coming out of lockdown and are back committing violence and likely “settling scores”.

‘When you couple this with the usual surge in crime during the summer months, I am concerned about the possibility of very high demand for our police.’

Investigators were pictured securing last night’s crime scene to preserve evidence and are speaking to witnesses and examining CCTV in the hunt for the gunman.

Detective Chief Inspector Scott Griffiths said: ‘I would encourage anyone with information or dash-cam footage who has not yet spoken to us to get in touch.

‘We need the help of the community to come forward with information so that we can find the person or people responsible.

‘The man’s family are devastated and are being supported by specialist officers at this difficult time.’

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