Victim shot dead on 20th birthday

Meshack Tesfa Bernard was shot in Newtown

A man shot dead in a street in Birmingham was the innocent victim of a revenge attack on his 20th birthday, police have revealed.

Meshack Tesfa Bernard was celebrating his birthday when he was killed in Melbourne Avenue in the Newtown area on Monday evening.

West Midlands Police are linking the shooting to two stabbings which took place earlier in the day.

A 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

'Tragic loss'

About half an hour before the fatal shooting of Mr Bernard two Asian men were attacked, one with a machete and the other was stabbed in the groin.

In another incident two bullets were fired into the door of a family home from a car in Wheeler Street, Newtown, on Tuesday evening.

Supt Tom Coughlan, who is leading the inquiry, had earlier appealed for anyone who was in the area at the time of the fatal shooting to contact West Midlands Police.

He said: "This is a tragic loss of a young man's life."

Andrew Brown, the father of the 20-year-old victim, has called on people to keep calm and not to allow violence to escalate.