Man nips to chippy for dinner however then finds himself staring down barrel of shotgun

An innocent man who was blasted with a shotgun by a complete stranger has revealed how he continues to undergo operations 18 months on.

David Forbes had been staying at his partner’s Croxteth home on February 28, 2025, when he volunteered to nip to the chip shop to fetch some tea for his 15-year-old stepson. David, 42, who hails from Wallasey, departed the terraced house on Cubert Road on the family errand when suddenly he found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun.

Standing before him was a man dressed in black, muttering under his breath and gripping the deadly weapon which was aimed at David.

The father of two recounted the moment he came so close to death. Speaking to the ECHO this week, David said: “I’ve crossed over the road, he’s crossed over as well. I thought it was weird, all in black. I was a bit wary of him, and then I thought: ‘he’s coming towards me, he’s getting closer’.

“And he mumbled something, stopped, pointed the gun down and walked back. I think he realised I’m not the guy, and because everything happened so quick I’ve carried on walking. I think he panicked and thought: ‘I’m going to have to shoot’.”

The shotgun discharged with an ear-splitting boom and David collapsed to the ground with hundreds of shotgun pellets lodged in his legs. His attacker escaped immediately, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Covered in blood and writhing in agony, David began to drag himself back across the street, crying out for help. He managed to crawl into the house where his partner’s 22-year-old son stood, aghast as David dragged his severely injured legs behind him.

Known for his sense of humour, when David stumbled through the front door claiming he’d been shot, his stepson initially thought it was a prank. That was until he saw the blood-soaked denim.

Swiftly, David’s jeans were cut open and his 31-year-old stepdaughter, a qualified doctor from Sudan, attempted to stem the bleeding caused by the fragmented pellet lodged in his lower legs.

Armed police swiftly arrived and searched the property before paramedics rushed David to hospital where he underwent an 11-hour operation to save his legs.

He said: “When I woke up, the first thing I said was: ‘Am I going to walk again? Have I lost my legs?’ Because I couldn’t lift my leg, I couldn’t feel my legs.”

David spent a fortnight in hospital, having undergone major surgery on both his lower legs, where fragments still remain. After reconstructive surgery on his legs, doctors left the wounds open for two days before stapling them shut.

He was discharged walking with the aid of crutches, but remains hopeful about his recovery. His cheerful personality shone through on the drive home as he played ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra.

But within weeks of his discharge, David was readmitted after spotting swelling in his left leg. The wounds were weeping and the limb showed no signs of improvement. When the doctor examined his leg and squeezed the calf, “blood shot across the wound”.

David underwent additional surgery for blood clots and spent another four weeks in hospital. To date, David has had more than 200 staples inserted into his leg and has spent nearly an entire day under the surgeon’s knife in total.

Seated in his living room this week, alongside his partner and family members who requested anonymity, David revealed his scars to the ECHO to highlight the devastating impact of gun crime. Sixteen months have elapsed since the shooting, and well over a year since his multiple operations, yet he continues to deal with the aftermath.

Sitting on a grey sofa in the back living room, with his partner and two of her children, he told The ECHO: “I was struggling to just be able to go to the shop and carry a bag and stuff, you know? When I first came out of hospital, on the crutches for so long and then I have a walking aid that goes into your laces on your boot, with a strap over the top to hold my foot up.

“I was slipping and falling over in the shower, it was just things like that. There is the PTSD. Like on Bonfire Night, fireworks going off, I was waking up with panic attacks.”

The psychological impact of the shooting has taken its toll on the entire family. His partner’s now 16-year-old son feels anxious about leaving the front door open, while other relatives continue to worry that such an incident could occur again.

David revealed how his partner and her family had only relocated to the property a year before, and subsequently discovered — in what David considers an ironic turn of events — that the man who shot him, Daniel Lawless, had previously resided in their home years earlier.

He added: “I don’t let anybody go to the shop now, especially when it’s dark, on their own at least. We go in twos.”

Nevertheless, they continue to receive backing from their neighbours and the local community. David said: “Neighbours have all been supportive and everybody knows I am innocent, and now they sort of know what it was, it wasn’t a targeted attack.”

David admits he has experienced periods of fury, both towards his attacker and regarding the circumstances he now faces. He has spent his career working as a tradesman and on building sites, and had recently begun a new role managing construction sites when he was shot.

Due to being on probation at the time of the shooting, he lost his position. Earlier this month, Daniel Lawless was handed his sentence for the terrifying assault.

Liverpool Crown Court was presented with CCTV footage that depicted Lawless departing from an address on Petherick Road on foot just after 10pm and proceeding into the car park of the Lobster pub, where he was seen to extract a shotgun from a carrier bag and display the weapon to three men standing outside.

After walking away to execute the shooting, he subsequently fled from the scene of the attack, briefly returned once more and then left again, at which point he was seen “gesturing towards the males in the car park”.

Upon returning to Petherick Road, Lawless was captured entering a parked car around 20 minutes later carrying a backpack and then “disappearing”. He came back in a taxi at approximately 7.15am the next day dressed in a dressing gown and toting a black rucksack. The firearm was never retrieved by the police.

Lawless confessed to wounding with intent and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, with a previous charge of attempted murder being ordered to lie on file. Appearing via video link from HMP Liverpool, he seemed to wipe his eyes with his blue Montirex t-shirt before he was imprisoned for 18-and-a-half years and given an additional four years on licence.

Lawless revealed his true character when, in July 2025, he doused his cell mate with boiling sugar water while he was asleep, causing his skin to melt off. Lawless later boasted ‘I’ve done him’.

In the meantime, David’s recuperation is ongoing. He is scheduled for additional surgery, this time on his tendons and muscles, in the hope it will enhance flexibility and motion in his foot. Surgeons can only carry out the procedure once, and recovery will take over a year – with no assurance of success.

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