Residents in a quiet street have spoken of their fear after a man was shot in a block of flats.

The bleeding victim was believed to have fled through a first floor window at Garnet Court, Norbury Road, Feltham, before checking himself into Ashford and St Peter's Hospital. His condition was today described as “life threatening”.

Police forensic experts have been analysing blood around the window frame and down the wall since the incident at about 6.30pm last night.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Trident team, which deals with black-on-black shootings, has launched an investigation but not made any arrests.

One pregnant mother-of-two, who asked not to be named, was at home with her children in Garnet Court when firearms officers burst in at about 7pm on Tuesday looking for suspects.

She said: “They came into my house and asked me to put my hands up. They came with their guns."

Neighbours said they did not hear a gun shot but saw a group of men arguing outside the flats.

A mother-of-one, who asked not to be named, said: “A white man got out of a car and walked along, he said something to a black man, and then they took him by the scruff of the neck and booted him in the car and drove off.”

She added: “It’s scary, I’m not going to let my little one out, no way, because you never know if they will come back or not.

“We heard it’s to do with drugs, we don’t know if they’ve been caught or anything. If they didn’t get what they wanted they could come back.”

Another neighbour said she saw three men drive off in a silver car, leaving a black Golf in front of her house next to another blood stain.

The first mum said police told her the victim, believed to be around 27 years old, was a “well known face” and had been shot in the main artery of his groin.

She said she had seen the men who lived in the flat earlier in the day, but they usually “keep themselves to themselves”.

She added: “It’s worrying because just a few weeks ago during the school holidays the children would be out playing.”