The Metropolitan Police recorded 1,679 gun‑related offences in London between August 2025 and July 2026, according to monthly crime data, with the highest rates concentrated in parts of north and south London.
Overview of the figures
The total of 1,679 incidents represents a fall from the 1,918 recorded in the previous 12‑month period but remains above totals from earlier years — 1,492 offences in the August 2022–July 2023 window and 1,624 in August 2023–July 2024.
Of the most recent cohort of offences, the Met classified 213 as involving robbery and 108 as a “lethal barrel discharge” (LBD), a term used when a firearm is discharged.
Where gun crime is most concentrated
At borough level, the highest counts were seen in:
- Enfield – 110 gun‑related offences
- Brent – 108
- Lambeth – 88 (also the highest number of LBDs at 13)
Westminster recorded the greatest number of gun‑related personal robberies, with 17, followed by Newham and Enfield on 16 each. Southwark, Lewisham and Croydon also appear prominently in the ranks, underlining a concentration of incidents in parts of south London. By contrast, south‑west boroughs such as Richmond, Kingston and Merton were among the lowest in the capital, occupying three of the bottom four positions.
| Borough | Gun offences (Aug 2025–Jul 2026) | Notable subcategory |
|---|---|---|
| Enfield | 110 | High overall count |
| Brent | 108 | High overall count |
| Lambeth | 88 | Most LBDs (13) |
Ongoing murder investigation in Clapham
The new figures come as the Met continues inquiries into a fatal shooting in Clapham. Emergency services were called shortly before 10pm on Monday after reports of gunfire on Willington Road. A 25‑year‑old man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police subsequently said a 22‑year‑old man had been arrested in connection with the incident. Another man sustained a gunshot injury and attended hospital; he has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in hospital as officers seek to establish his condition.
There was a police cordon near the Landor pub at the junction of Willington Road and Landor Road while forensic teams worked at the scene. Floral tributes have been placed close to where the victim was discovered.
“Lethal barrel discharge”
The use of the LBD designation in the figures highlights incidents where shots were fired rather than only where weapons were present. Detectives say such discharges carry a heightened risk of fatality and attract additional investigative urgency.
Implications and context
Although the most recent 12‑month total shows a decline from the prior year, the capital’s gun crime burden remains above levels seen in some earlier periods. The distribution of offences suggests persistent hot spots that require targeted local responses, as well as continued cross‑borough coordination for intelligence and enforcement.
Police forces and local authorities face competing pressures: responding to community concerns about violence, sustaining investigative capacity for serious firearms incidents and delivering prevention work that addresses the environment, social factors and organised crime networks linked to weapon supply.
As the Clapham inquiry proceeds, investigators will be seeking to determine the circumstances of the shooting, whether the victim and the hospitalised man were known to each other, and whether the incident is connected to wider patterns of offending in south London. No one has been convicted in relation to that death and inquiries remain at an early stage.
For the public and policymakers, the statistics underline both the scale of the challenge and the need for co‑ordinated measures to reduce the incidence and impact of gun crime across the capital.
