How Gooch gang and Old Trafford Cripz went on a machine gun rampage in

As fitness fanatics worked out in the packed gym, the three young gunmen calmly walked into the weights room.

Spotting their target, they pulled out a 9mm Scorpion submachine gun capable of firing 1,000 rounds a minute. While terrified gym-goers ran for their lives, the hoodlums aimed the pistol and ‘cocked’ it as if planning to shoot.

It was the day gang war spilled over into what should have been the family-friendly surroundings of Moss Side Leisure Centre. Bizarrely while the terrifying rampage was ongoing, in the room next door police officers were giving a talk on violent crime.

Thankfully, the gunmen Antonio Wint, Andre Marshall, and a 17-year-old boy, didn’t pull the trigger. Instead they smashed their 23-year-old victim over the head with the gun and punched him several times, leaving him battered and bloody.

As they fled the scene in a green Suburau Impreza on the afternoon of July 3, 2007, police were already on their tail. Two constables from GMP’s Longsight drugs unit heard details of the attack over their radio.

A short time later they discovered three hooded figures hiding in a Whalley Range alleyway. Armed with only a can of CS gas, body armour and one radio between them they took cover and called for back-up.

The Czech-made Scorpion machine gun was capable of firing 1,000 bullets a minute -Credit:GMP

But as Wint, then 21, and Marshall, 22, made an escape they came face-to-face.

“Wint was clearly holding a gun,” one of the officers would later say. “We were unarmed and for a split second we all looked at each other, every one of us scared. We recognised them instantly as wanted Gooch members.”

One of the officers chased Marshall for 50 yards before grabbing him in a ‘bear hug’, while the other pursued Wint, who climbed up onto a kitchen roof and pulled out a carrier bag containing the Czech-made machine gun.

“He was fidgety and anxious, bouncing from foot to foot – warning signs that he would do something impulsive,” the officer later told the M.E.N. “Then he put the bag in the guttering.”

Bullets loaded in the magazine of the gun

Warning Wint he could be shot if armed police arrived, the Pc managed to lure him down and put him under arrest. In May the following year Wint, Marshall and the teen were in the dock at Manchester Crown Court.

During the hearing it emerged inquiries had revealed Wint and Marshall, known as Stinger and Dre, were key members of the notorious Gooch gang. Wint was said to have recruited youngsters to Gooch splinter group Old Trafford Cripz and was believed to be behind a surge in shootings in Old Trafford.

Three years earlier Wint had been jailed for 20 months after Gooch gang members clashed with thugs from the rival Longsight Crew on the corridors of Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The court heard the leisure centre attack stemmed from a dispute between Marshall and the victim while the pair were locked up at Forest Bank prison. Passing sentence Judge Anthony Gee QC said: “The victim must have been absolutely terrified and feared he was about to be shot.

“This weapon was small and compact yet capable of being fired to deadly and devastating effect. This court has often said that the anyone convicted for firearms offences must expect long sentences in custody to deter others who may be minded to commit similar offences.

“The firearm was particularly dangerous and was capable of firing many rounds within seconds.”

Antonio Wint (left) and Andre Marshall, pictured in 2008 after being jailed -Credit:GMP

Wint, then of Stamford Street, Old Trafford was jailed for an indeterminate period after pleading guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and told he must serve four years and 250 days. Marshall, then of Brantingham Road, Whalley Range, pleaded guilty to possessing a a prohibited firearm and assault causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for seven years.

The teenager had earlier been sentenced to a community punishment and rehabilitation order after admitting violent disorder.

Speaking after the sentencing Det Sgt Rick Collins, who led the investigation, said: “These three offenders armed themselves and walked calmly into a busy gym in the middle of the day with no regard for people’s safety. Their arrogance is astonishing, but we have proved they are not above the law, and our streets are definitely safer now that they are in jail.”

Det Sgt Chris Downey from XCalibre Task Force, Greater Manchester Police‘s specialist gang unit, said Wint and Marshall’s ‘sole ambition was to ‘make a name for themselves as gangsters’.

He added: “The gun that Wint, Marshall and their accomplice used in this incident – a 9mm Scorpion machine pistol – was not only lethal but unusual. When we test-fired it after it was seized we were shocked at its power. This weapon being taken off the streets is a significant success of this case.

“We are determined to pursue those who have absolutely no regard for other members of their community, those who carry loaded dangerous guns around, and take them into community centres where people should be allowed to go without worrying about their safety.

“Lots of children use the centre these men walked into that day and it sickens me to think what could have happened here.”

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