Passer-by killed in city street cross-fire

LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) A young woman was shot dead after being caught in cross-fire on a London street, police said today.

Detectives believe the 26-year-old woman, who has not been named, was an innocent passer-by who was hit by a stray bullet.

Police said they were investigating the possibility that two men were exchanging gunfire, one standing by a car, the other at the top of a flight of steps leading to a field.

The woman was shot in John Williams Close, New Cross, south London, at about 6 p m yesterday and died in hospital two hours later.

On the same evening, a 21-year-old man was found shot dead in a communal stairway of a block of flats in south Lambeth, police said.

Detectives are investigating whether the New Cross shoot-out was linked to drug dealing.

Three men and a woman have been arrested and are in custody at a south London police station.

A red VW Polo was recovered, but no weapons were found.

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