Drive-by killer aged 15
Victim, 19, shot on way home from prayers
A BOY of 15 acted as getaway driver as another teenager was gunned down in the street in broad daylight while walking home from Friday prayers.
Abdul Xasan, 19, died at the scene after being blasted in the back by a shotgun.
Shocking CCTV footage of the killing shows a stolen Volkswagen Golf drive up to Mr Xasan.
As the car slows, three puffs of white smoke can be seen coming from the pump-action shotgun as it is fired. Despite being mortally wounded, Mr Xasan tries to flee, but the driver pursues him, allowing the gunman to fire again. The car then speeds off.
The 20-year-old shooter and his getaway accomplice – now aged 16 – have now been found guilty of Mr Xasan’s murder.
The attack, which took place on March 13 in the Hillfields area of Coventry, is made all the more terrifying by the fact it occurred at 2.30pm as parents waited to pick up their children from a nearby nursery. Neither defendant can be named for legal reasons.
The pair were caught after police, tipped off by members of the public, discovered both were wearing electronic tags.
Unknown to the killers, their ankle-worn tags – used to enforce a curfew while they were under investigation for other crimes – placed them at the murder scene at the time of the shooting.
The CCTV footage and mobile phone data were also used to confirm the pair’s movements.
Officers believe both defendants were members of Coventry’s C2 gang, which has been engaged in a long- running series of violent clashes with a rival group.
Speaking after the unanimous verdicts at Birmingham Crown Court, Detective Chief Inspector Scott Griffiths of West Midlands
Police said the pair had shown no regard for public safety.
He said: ‘It is broad daylight, the middle of the afternoon, and a number of witnesses to this event were actually there waiting to pick up their young children. The people responsible had no respect in relation to anybody else’s safety. It was just a horrendous incident.’
Mr Griffiths said t ensions between both gangs in the leadup to the drive-by had included other shootings. He praised members of the public who named the killers early on, and issued a warning to those who refused to turn away from violence.
‘If you don’t work with us, if you do not come away from gangs, we will proactively target you,’ he said. ‘You will serve long prison sentences as a result.’
Police are working with young people thought to be at risk of being sucked into the city’s gangs, ‘to try to steer them away from gang activity in Coventry’.
Mr Griffiths added that three young people’s ‘lives have been wrecked, just on the basis of loyalty to gangs in Coventry’.
The two defendants will be sentenced on December 22.
‘Violent clashes with a rival gang’