A YOUNG dad shot dead at a friend's wake had been trying to escape Manchester's violent gang culture which had already claimed the life of his brother.

Tyrone Gilbert, 23, had been a `serious player' in the notorious Longsight Crew but wanted to start a life away from crime to bring up his three children.

And he was to become a dad again. Tyrone's pregnant girlfriend Lisa has paid tribute to him.

She said: "Everyone is devastated. His kids loved every bone in his body. They loved playing and doing things with their daddy and now they will never be able to play with him again. I know he loved his kids very much.

"We were just looking forward to our first baby daughter being born. She would have been a daddy's little girl."

He was killed just before midnight on Friday after drive-by gunmen opened fire on Frobisher Close in Chorlton-on-Medlock, where mourners had been paying their respects to Ucal Chin, 24, who was shot dead last month.

Tyrone's murder will be doubly devastating for his family. Seven years ago his brother Marcus Greenidge was murdered on nearby Bletchley Close.

Marcus, 21, was killed, and three others were injured, after notorious Manchester gangster Thomas Pitt - leader of the Pitt Bull Crew - ambushed rivals from the Longsight Crew.

Tyrone himself was named as a member of the Longsight Crew in a 2005 court case which followed a showdown between the gang and south Manchester rivals the Gooch Crew as they visited shot pals in Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Tyrone was given a 20-month sentence for affray for his part in the fracas, which saw gang members chase each other through the corridors of the hospital and use trolleys as battering rams as nurses held doors closed to protect patients.

Respects

A friend has said since getting out of jail Tyrone had moved away from the Grove Village estate and been trying to devote his time to his three children.

The 23-year-old family friend and witness to the murder, who did not wish to be named, said Tyrone had only returned to the area on Friday to pay his respects at Ucal Chin's family home.

She said: "It took Tyrone a few years to get over Marcus' death. But he had moved away from the area and was trying to sort himself out. He was only down here for the funeral of his friend. He didn't come down here armed because he wasn't like that.

"I have known him all my life. His family are decent and now they have lost two sons. He grew up here and some of the boys down here have got a name. But everybody had been trying get Tyrone away from that lifestyle, everybody liked him."

It is thought that a green Honda Legend and another car were travelling along Marksfield Avenue when shots were fired from the cars into Frobisher Close towards Tyrone and a group of people who had gathered on the street.

Tyrone and a 33-year-old man were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds but Tyrone died later. A post mortem showed he died from a wound to the chest.

Police believe the gunman fired indiscriminately at the crowd of mourners.

The other victim is stable in hospital with a leg wound. The Honda was abandoned on Firethorn Avenue in Burnage.

A short time later police received reports of a 14-year-old boy shot in the leg on Stretford Road, Hulme. His condition is not thought to be life- threatening.

Police are working to establish if the two incidents are linked. The witness who spoke to the M.E.N. said she was one of a group of mourners invited back to Ucal Chin's mother's home on Frobisher Close after the funeral on Friday night.

Describing the terrifying moment the cars screeched into the street, she said: "The gunmen opened fire recklessly.

"I was in my car with some little kids I was about to take home and my car got hit by bullets."

"The women and kids that were outside were screaming and threw themselves on the floor. Other people were running. Tyrone was one of them but he got caught in the stomach and ran before sinking to the floor."