A Manchester Evening News photographer was one of the first to the scene when a woman was shot on a busy Manchester street – thanks to a tip-off from one of the paper’s own vendors.

Lensman Christian Bragg was able to get dramatic pictures of the aftermath of the shooting as the victim lay collapsed on the blood-spattered pavement.

The incident happened on Manchester’s King Street, a short distance from the MEN’s Deansgate office.

A lone gunman shot the victim in the leg before running off, and as shocked bystanders gave chase a nearby MEN vendor quickly called the paper’s newspaper sales team who in turn tipped off the picture desk.

With the co-operation of the injured woman’s husband, Christian was able to take pictures at the scene and within 15 minutes run back to the office where that day’s final edition was re-plated to include one of the dramatic images on the front page.

The picture was also used on its website and in the MEN Lite, and was syndicated to all the national newspapers.

A full set of dramatic pictures was then published in the paper on Friday, when the victim also agreed to be interviewed and photographed recovering at home.

Picture editor John Jeffay said: “I must praise our photographer, Christian Bragg, who did an excellent job, kept his cool and delivered the pictures as needed.

“The tip-off from a vendor proved to be invaluable. It took the photographer two minutes to run there and he arrived before the emergency services.”

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