Drive-by gunmen shot ‘Black Panther of Oxford’ Sasha Johnson in head as they fired on house party

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A British Black Lives Matter leader was shot in the head during a gangland drive-by shooting at the end of an all-day party she attended – not because of her activism, a friend and fellow anti-racism campaigner said today.

Sasha Johnson, the self-styled ‘Black Panther of Oxford’ who has called for the police to be defunded after the murder of George Floyd as well as helping lead the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign to topple controversial statues, was ‘brutally’ attacked after receiving multiple death threats, her political party said. 

But today family friend Imarn Ayton, founder of the UK Black Reformist Movement, said Sasha ‘was not the intended’ victim and was shot in the head when a rival gang arrived and opened fire on a group standing in the garden of a Peckham house.

One neighbour in south-east London told MailOnline she heard ‘two shots’ and then the sound of ‘screeching’ tyres at around 3am. A marquee can still be seen set up in the back garden where the party was held, with drinks bottles discarded on the lawn.

Ms Ayton told the BBC: ‘As far as we’re aware she [Sasha] was at a party and there was a rival gang that may have heard about a person being there that they didn’t feel comfortable with, or trusted, so they resorted to driving past and shooting into a garden. And one of those shots obviously hit Sasha Johnson. But I don’t believe she was the intended target’. 

She added: ‘This incident is more related to rival gangs than to her activism’, adding she believed there was ‘some kind of dispute between two different groups’, adding that her friend has now had surgery in hospital, and this had been ‘successful’.    

The Metropolitan Police insists there is nothing to suggest it was a targeted attack or that the victim had received any credible threats against her before the shooting at around 3am yesterday. Detectives said the shooting took place close to a house party in Peckham, south-east London, and are appealing for witnesses who were in Consort Road in the early hours. They will also be trying to piece together the events that led to Sasha being in the capital instead of at home in Oxford with her two children.

A neighbour, who lives near the house, told MailOnline: ‘I heard two shots. There was about three seconds between each one and I heard a car screeching off. 

‘A woman then screamed and shouted the word “help”. I was too frightened to look out the window. My husband is blind and he was really worried about what was going on too, he was almost having a panic attack. I knew they were gunshots straight away. It’s terrifying that a shooting can happen virtually on my doorstep.’  

Police investigating the shooting of Sasha Johnson have recovered a mountain bike. 

A local said: ‘I came out of my house about 8.30am on Sunday and the police had sealed off the road. There was a dark coloured mountain bike left on the street behind the police tape. 

‘The officers then took it away. I don’t know what significance it holds. 

‘The shooting followed an all day party at one of the houses by the railway arch. My daughter walked past it about 4pm on Saturday and apparently it continued until late on into the night. ‘I didn’t hear any shots or any shouting. The first I knew that something had happened was when I stepped out of my front door to go out.’    

Forensics officers have sealed off an area of the street outside a large Victorian property next to one of the area’s famous railway arches, with that section of Cors  

Ms Johnson, a mother-of-two Oxford Brookes graduate who rose to prominence after organising BLM protests last summer, is said to be currently in intensive care and in a critical condition in a South London hospital following the attack.  

The Taking the Initiative Party, which Ms Johnson founded, said she had previously received death threats as a result of her BLM campaigning. 

In a statement, the TTIP wrote: ‘It is with great sadness that we inform you that our own Sasha Johnson has been brutally attacked and sustained a gunshot wound to her head. 

‘She is currently in intensive care and in a critical condition. The attack happened in the early hours of this morning, following numerous death threats as a result of her activism.

‘Sasha has always been actively fighting for black people and the injustices that surround the black community, as well as being both a member of BLM and a member of Taking the Initiative Party’s Executive Leadership Committee. 

‘Sasha is also a mother of 3 and a strong, powerful voice for our people and our community.

‘Let’s all come together and pray for Sasha, pray for her recovery and show our support to her family and loved ones. #prayforsashajohnson’. 

As well as her activism, Ms Johnson has worked as a youth worker and cafe owner. 

Police said the Peckham shooting occurred in the vicinity of a house where a party was taking place and that a number of people may have been in the area. Officers said there is ‘nothing to suggest’ that the woman shot there was the subject of a targeted attack. 

BLM UK tweeted in solidarity with the activist yesterday and said they would be holding a vigil outside the hospital in south London on Monday at 3pm.

Claudia Webbe, Labour MP for Leicester East, was among those who went online to express ‘solidarity’ with Ms Johnson.

Ms Webbe said: ‘We were all out last year for Black Lives Matter. I only know her as an activist on these issues of Black Lives Matter. I support Black Lives Matter and therefore support what she was doing.

‘As a member of Parliament I stand in full solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and I stand with her work in the Black Lives Matter movement.’

Police have so far refused to confirm the Peckham incident is the one involving Ms Johnson, nor have they speculated as to a motive for it or issued any description of a suspect. 

In the Peckham incident, police said detectives from the Met’s ‘Specialist Crime Command (Trident)’ are leading the investigation. They said there was a ‘significant police presence in the area as enquiries continue and a number of roads are currently closed’. 

Detective Chief Inspector Jimi Tele said: ‘This was a shocking incident that has left a young woman with very serious injuries. Our thoughts are with her family who are being provided with support at this terribly difficult time.

‘A dedicated team of detectives is working tirelessly to identify the person or persons responsible for this shooting. They are making good progress but they need the public’s help. 

‘If you saw anything suspicious in the Consort Road area in the early hours of Sunday morning or if you have heard information since that could help detectives, it is crucial that you get in touch.

‘Finally, I recognise that this incident will have shocked those in the local community and further afield. 

‘I would ask people to avoid speculating as to the motive or the circumstances behind it.

‘If anyone does have information, the most responsible and helpful action is to share it with the police or, to remain anonymous, with Crimestoppers.’

Officers said anybody with information could call police on 101 or tweet @MetCC providing the reference CAD1172/23MAY. Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Ms Johnson came to prominence as an organiser of the BLM protests last summer, where she was seen addressing crowds while wearing camouflage trousers, a black beret and a stab-proof-style vest. 

She has called for a ‘race offenders’ register’ that would see people barred from jobs based on having been accused of ‘micro-aggressions’ in the workplace, saying the list would be ‘similar’ to the sex offenders’ register – which is used to bar paedophiles from professions like teaching. 

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline late last year, Ms Johnson called for a ‘race offenders’ register’ that would see people barred from jobs based on having been accused of ‘micro-aggressions’ in the workplace.

She came to prominence as an organiser of the BLM protests earlier this year, where she was seen addressing crowds while wearing camouflage trousers, a black beret and a stab-proof-style vest.

She explained the racial offenders list would be ‘similar’ to the sex offenders’ register – which is used to bar paedophiles from professions like teaching.

She also called for ‘Holocaust-style’ reparations for black people on the basis that capitalism racially discriminates against them, called for the ‘defunding’ of Britain’s police forces and attacked ethnic minority politicians such as Labour MPs David Lammy and Diane Abbott, saying ‘as black people… they have been tokenistic’.

Ms Johnson, who is a TTIP executive committee member in charge of activism, said TTIP was ‘not just a party for black people’ and would also represent the working class.

The party operates a system of ‘coalition leadership’ so there is no one specific person in charge and different spokesmen sometimes air views that contradict the official party line. 

Outlining the party’s manifesto in what was her first interview with a national publication, she called for a national register of alleged racists that would ban them from living near people from ethnic minorities.

This would include people guilty of ‘micro-aggressions’, which the Oxford Dictionary defines as ‘indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalised group’.

‘It’s similar to the sex offenders register,’ she told MailOnline. ‘If you were to be racially abusive to someone, [the register] would question whether someone is fit enough to hold a particular job where their bias could influence another person’s life.

‘A lot of racism happens at work and places of education in a micro-aggressive way. If you exhibit an element of bias at work, you should probably receive a warning first [before later being added to the register] so people know in future that you hold these views.’

Ms Johnson said inclusion on the list would mean you could be excluded from ‘certain fields’ of employment – or even banned from living near people from ethnic minorities.

‘If you live in a majority-coloured neighbourhood you shouldn’t reside there because you’re a risk to those people – just like if a sex offender lived next to a school he would be a risk to those children,’ she said.

Ms Johnson acknowledged that the idea came as a contribution from Black Lives Matter, and it was presented to TTIP at a party conference where BLM representatives were present.

While the party does not provide a list of specific offences which would warrant inclusion on the register, its manifesto does state that anyone merely ‘accused’ of an offence would be added, as well as anyone ‘charged’ with a race crime.

The Taking the Initiative Party was formed in summer in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.

The organisation previously called itself the first ‘black-led’ political party in the UK, although Ms Johnson now insists it is merely ‘black founded’.

Ms Johnson also believes that black people should be given reparations by the British Government due to the legacy of slavery and because capitalism ‘holds us down’.

She said current constraints on the national budget meant black people should not receive direct payments, but tax breaks instead.

‘Reparations can take the form of tax free periods, which would give time to build back up economic stability in black communities,’ she said.

‘We have to remember that the Jewish community received reparations for the Holocaust, and no one speaks about forgetting the Holocaust.’

Ms Johnson also discussed her views of black and minority MPs, including Labour politicians Diane Abbott and David Lammy.

‘I commend the work they attempt to do, but sometimes it’s tokenistic,’ she said.

‘Diane Abbott has a seat at the table, but it gives us no confidence she has any decision-making power, or the ability to bring those issues to the forefront.

‘How many reports, how many pieces of paper does it take before you come to the realisation that they know exactly what’s happening.’

She then vowed to keep articulating things that were ‘not politically correct’, ‘like saying that Diane Abbot, as a black person, has been tokenistic [and] David Lammy has been tokenistic’.

Ms Johnson also spoke in favour of ‘defunding the police’ – although the TTIP manifesto specifically excludes this.

Ms Johnson played a leading role in the summer BLM protests, including the Million People March, and rose to notoriety shortly before when videos showed her confronting a black man she was arguing with and repeatedly calling him the racial slur ‘c**n’.

In the past, her Twitter account have been suspended for tweets which discussed enslaving white people. She told us these tweets were ‘fake’ and an ‘attack from the Far Right’.

Ms Johnson has campaigned for statues to be removed and is part of the secretive group Forever Family Force.

Footage on Instagram shows her parading with female FFF members in military-style garb during a march in Brixton earlier this year for African Emancipation Day. 

Comparisons have been made with the Black Panthers, the radical far-Left protesters who wore similar uniforms as they campaigned against police brutality in 1960s America.

Ms Johnson is also the UK’s representative of a new organisation called the New Black Panthers Party and has called for the establishment of a ‘black militia’ in the UK.

In a video posted in July last year, she compared the police to the Ku Klux Klan. 

Ms Johnson also led chants of ‘f*** the police’ and ‘one solution, revolution’ in a fresh campaign to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oxford University. 

Did YOU see the incident in Peckham? Email: tips@dailymail.com