A five-year-old girl will never walk again after being shot in a gang attack as she was "happily playing" with her two siblings in a shop, a trial has heard.
The youngster, Thusha Kamaleswaran, and 35-year-old Roshan Selvakumar were described in court as "two completely innocent bystanders" who were both hit by gunfire.
Three men with their faces partially covered "circled" on bikes outside Stockwell Food and Wine in south London in March last year, before one opened fire with a handgun, prosecutor Edward Brown QC said.
They were searching for rival gang members but hit Thusha and shopper Mr Selvakumar, according to Mr Brown, who added that the victims were "remarkably lucky" to survive.
He claimed the handgun was fired at least twice and that the gunman would have been able to see Thusha, whose uncle owns the shop, when he fired the second shot.
"At the moment of the second gunshot, she was in an aisle, and in fact must have been in the sight of the gunman and in the sight of perhaps the others," he told the court.
A bullet passed through Thusha's body and an emergency team had to carry out "invasive surgery" at the scene to restart her heart, jurors at the Old Bailey heard.
The little girl went into cardiac arrest for a second time at King's College Hospital but was again saved by emergency surgery. However, her injuries left her paralysed.
Mr Selvakumar, who was chatting to shop workers at the time of the attack, had bullet fragments permanently lodged in his head.
Jurors have been told that had the wound been centimetres to one side he would have died.
Kazeem Kolawole, 19, Anthony McCalla, 19, and Nathaniel Grant, 21, deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Thusha and Mr Selvakumar.
The three defendants are accused of acting together in staging the attack.
They also face charges of the attempted murder of another man, Roshaun Bryan, who the prosecution say was the intended victim that day, and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Mr Brown told the jury that the shooting bore "all the hallmarks" of gang rivalry, animosity that "on occasion leads to needless but very serious violence".
The three defendants are accused of being part of the GAS or OC gang, based in Brixton, which has an ongoing rivalry with another gang called ABM.
They were on a "mission" to find a rival gang member on the day of the shooting, jurors were told. The trial continues.


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