One of the organisers of a private pool party in a Surrey village at which a man was shot dead has described how the mood at the event suddenly changed as it descended into chaos.
A 34-year-old man was found dead by police at a bungalow in Headley at about 2.30am on Monday. A woman was also shot in the leg, but her injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
Summerlyn Farquharson, who goes by the name The Female Boss Krissy, was listed as one of the organisers along with reggae dance hall artist Braintear Spookie.
“Before the shooting, everything was nice and then it was chaos,” she told the Press Association. “We have never had problems before and we have done the party on a yearly basis.
“At about two o’clock the crowd was getting unruly, I am not sure if it was the alcohol, but by the time I got to the security I heard a gunshot, I saw people running, people were trying to get into the house.
“People weren’t allowed in the house as it was a pool party but they were banging on the door. I opened the door to let Spookie in, people were shouting to call the police, saying someone was shot, so I called the police and locked us in.
“We don’t know who was shot, we don’t know why it happened, we have no clue, we don’t know who it is.”
She said that she had rented the property on a country lane next to the church for the past four years and had held similar parties twice before without any trouble.
The event was licensed by Mole Valley district council from 2pm on Sunday until 4am on Monday, allowing the sale of alcohol and “regulated entertainment”.
Residents complained of being kept awake by the party and said the usually quiet lane was overrun by traffic. They said that broken glass and rubbish was strewn on the lane on Monday morning.
Farquharson said the organisers had received abusive messages following the media coverage.
“It was frightening and damaging to Spookie’s career, getting all this bad publicity,” she said. “It was an innocent party, it was not a sex party, Spookie was going to showcase some of his material but because of the chaos that didn’t happen, we never planned for this to happen.
“We are also getting lots of hurtful messages, for him to be sent back to Africa, we aren’t from Africa, we are British like anyone else, we have the right to be here.”
On Monday afternoon, police arrested one person on suspicion of murder and a second on suspicion of assisting an offender. The gun used in the shooting, believed to be a handgun, has not been recovered.
Police want to hear from anyone who attended the event and/or saw a white and black Mini leaving the scene.