Police Now Involved In Ashley Cole Rifle Incident

Want good news as far as Chelsea are concerned? You should probably look elsewhere. The Ashley Cole shooting saga has now taken a turn for the more sinister, with Surrey police confirming that they're now involved and investigating claims that the left-back shot 21 year-old intern Tom Cowan while 'larking about' with a .22 calibre air rifle at training a week ago. A spokesman for the force is quoted in the Guardian as saying:

We can confirm that ... we will be contacting the club to establish whether any criminal offence has been committed. [We will interview] whoever runs the training establishment at Cobham.

It's not a good sign that the police are now getting involved. The club has claimed it's taking 'appropriate action' against the defender*, but something like this could very easily turn into a criminal charge if the police and Cowan are of mind to pursue it. With a season-defining match against Manchester United coming up, something like this hanging over our heads is basically the last thing we wanted to happen.

*I.e. shouting at him a lot and issuing some hefty fines.

At least it wasn't a real gun, I guess. It sounds like Cole brought the gun to training to cheer up after missing his penalty against Everton in the FA Cup last weekend, which is just phenomenally stupid. How on earth was Cole allowed to bring a weapon to training and/or to play with it with bystanders nearby? How idiotic can you get?