Gun victim was on phone to sister as she was killed

A Polish nursing assistant killed when she was caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout was talking to her family on the phone when she died.

The final moments of Magda Pniewska were heard during the mobile phone call to her sister in Poland.

The 26-year-old died after being hit in the head by a stray bullet as two men opened fire on each other on a south London estate on Tuesday evening.

Miss Pniewska was cutting across a car park on her way from work to the home in New Cross she shared with her boyfriend when the gunmen began shooting at about 6.20pm.

One was standing by a red Volkswagen Polo outside a council estate block, the other was at the top of steps leading to a nearby field. The pair were just yards apart when they started shooting.

When the brief gun battle was over, Miss Pniewska was found bleeding outside Stunell House with a gunshot wound to her head.

She was taken to hospital but doctors pronounced her dead a short time later.

Today her nephew Wojtek Pniewska revealed her horrifying last moments as she was caught in the middle of the gangland gun fight.

He said: "Magda was talking to my mum on the phone. Then my mum heard a loud bang, and then several more.

"She thought it was interference on the line, but then she got worried when she continued to listen to the sounds and my aunt did not speak any more.

"She was saying 'hello, hello, hello' - there was no reply. Then at some point the line went dead and although she called back several times there was no answer."

He said the family, from Brzeg in southern Poland, were devastated.

Miss Pniewska's tearful father said he had been planning to see his daughter this weekend. He said: "I can't stop crying. I was supposed to fly over and see her this week. We always thought London was wonderful, it was her dream. We were so glad she was there. I had no idea it was not safe."

Miss Pniewska had been in London for four years and worked at a Bupa care home, Manley Court. She was due to host a party yesterday for the elderly residents she cared for.

Officers from Trident, the Metropolitan Police's gun crime in the black community unit, are investigating whether the shoot-out was linked to drug dealing.

Three men and a woman have been arrested but no weapon has yet been found. The Volkswagen Polo was found abandoned half a mile away.

Anyone with information is urged to call Trident's Incident Room on 020 8247 4553 or CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111.