BUSINESS OWNERS have said they “don’t feel safe anymore” after a man was shot dead on their doorstep.

Police officers were called to the Bedford Road junction of Ilford Lane just after 10pm on Tuesday (March 22).

When they got there they found a 19-year-old man had been shot.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Despite paramedics efforts to save him he was pronounced dead at 11.22pm.

A murder investigation has been launched but there have been no arrests made.

Officers say they think the victim was sat in a car when he was shot.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

When business owners in Ilford Lane got to work this morning they found Bedford Road cordoned off and police cars parked up.

Manager of Mr Khan’s Meat and Poultry Abdul Majheed said he had “never seen anything like it” in the 14 years he has lived in the area.

He said: “This is very bad for the whole community.

“This isn’t just where I work it’s my home as well, I live just around the corner.

“I felt very disappointed when I found out.

“Business is already very quiet, but when this sort of thing happens it makes it worse because people don’t feel safe and they don’t want to come here.

“People are very scared – we need to look after ourselves more and more all the time.”

An employee at International Meat Market in Ilford Lane agreed, saying it was “bad news for everyone”.

He told the Guardian: “In the old days people would just fight and it would be fist on fist. Then they would kiss and make up and go home.

“But now it’s a different story, people have guns and knives.

“It makes everyone feel very on edge.

“I don’t know why it happened, but all I know is that you don’t shoot someone over something petty.”

The butcher added police were knocking on people’s doors when he arrived at work, and there are “three or four houses” in Bedford Road with CCTV cameras that could have captured the attack.

Owner of Naz Hair and Beauty Clinic Sumaira Naz saw the police cordons on the way to work.

The mother-of-two, who has lived in the area for 13 years, said: “I knew something terrible must have happened.

“I’m very disappointed.

“East London is getting very bad for this sort of thing – London isn’t the same as it used to be 10 years ago.

“My son is 18 and I get so scared whenever he’s late or doesn’t come home, my heart starts beating like crazy.

“We’re established here so it would be difficult to move, but when this sort of thing happens it makes me really want to.”