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| Friday, 6 December, 2002, 12:45 GMT Mother's anti-gun vigil ![]() Damian Cope was shot outside a London nightclub A mother whose son was shot dead is to hold a two-week vigil outside Downing Street. Lucy Cope's son Damian, 22, died after being attacked outside Brown's nightclub in Covent Garden, central London in July. His killers have never been found and she is now calling for guns to be taken off the streets, tougher sentencing and a ban on the sale of imitation guns. To promote this message she has founded the Mothers Against Guns group which marched in south London last week.
Speaking to BBC London she said: "What I have tried to do is to bring public awareness to the gun culture we now have in this country, in London especially. "It has been heartbreaking, but these mothers have been united... saying 'enough is enough', and we don't anymore killings on our streets. "And to the people selling these imitation fire arms I say, 'take them off your shelves'. "They are converted to become lethal weapons and people are losing their lives." Damian Cope, from Southwark, south London, left the trendy nightclub on 29 July after receiving a call on his mobile. Loved and respected He went outside and walked to the junction of Great Queen Street and Newton Street, where he was shot once in the stomach with a small calibre handgun. He died six hours later in hospital. Miss Cope said her son was "so loved and well respected". "I can't understand why someone would want to kill him. "This was a cold-blooded murder and I want the person who did this to give himself up to the police." | See also: 30 Nov 02 | UK 05 Aug 02 | England 31 Jul 02 | England Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now: Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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