SHOTGUN victim Adam Hayes has told of the moment he stared death in the face.

The teenager spoke a week after he was gunned down in the street by a mystery man, who left him reeling in agony and screaming: "The son of a bitch has shot me."

Blackburn College student Adam, 17, of Redlam, Blackburn, has now made an emotional plea to his attacker to hand himself over to the police.

Adam was shot in the arm and chest shortly early last Saturday, just after midnight, as he was walking home from a night out with three friends.

He was shot on Preston Old Road before staggering onto a path opposite the main entrance of Witton Park.

He has been recovering in Blackburn Royal Infirmary where he underwent surgery on a collapsed lung and two large shotgun wounds.

He said: "We were just walking towards my house when this man started talking to my friends. He said he had a problem but we just ignored him.

"When we had walked on a bit further he came running towards us and pushed past my friends. When he got about ten feet away he just stared at me.

"Then he just pulled the shotgun out of the coat and shot me. He was so quick he didn't give me a chance.

"I staggered back into the alley then fell on my knees and ended up face down on the floor."

Adam added: "I couldn't believe what had happened, I was staggering around screaming 'The son of a bitch has shot me' and I thought I was going to die.

"I just kept thinking 'What if I die?' and my friends were screaming as well. The next thing I knew I woke up in the ambulance. "I was screaming and I just kept telling them that I didn't want to die.

"I have never experienced pain like that before. For the first few days I was in agony and couldn't move at all.

"I have got a big hole in my arm and a tube in my chest to drain the blood away from my lungs."

Adam said: "At first I was pretty traumatised by what happened but I still keep thinking 'What if?'

"If the man had been a couple of feet nearer to me or shot me full in the chest I could be dead by now.

"I am feeling a lot better now and they have told me I can go home next week. I hope to be back at college soon.

"I want this man caught as soon as possible because the next person won't be so lucky.

"This man has got to be stopped before he kills somebody."

Detectives have since launched a massive manhunt and revealed the sinister gunman has approached two other groups of teenagers in recent weeks.

Police say the gunman is middle-aged, 5ft 9in, has thick glasses and grey hair and speaks with a Blackburn accent. Anyone with information should ring the special incident room on 01254 353569.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.