Catching a Killer: A Bullet Through The Window
The most striking thing about Catching a Killer, Channel 4’s ongoing look at how police murder and missing persons investigations work, is the level of access involved. This film follows the fallout from the death of 19-year-old Suhaib Mohammed. It begins with the terrified 999 call stating “My friend just got shot” and ends with the eventual arrest of his killers. Along the way a complex story emerges of a naive teenager who drifted away from his family and whose death was a terrible case of being in the wrong place with the wrong people.
It’s Senior Investigating Officer Mike Lynch’s last case before retirement and one he’s therefore doubly determined to solve, but as the investigation continues so his quiet fury over the way in which the dead teenager’s death is dismissed as just another gang death increases. As always though, it is the testimony of the victim’s family which lingers longest. “We knew he’d become more distant, more private, more closed off but I don’t think we realised he was hanging with the wrong people,” says his sister quietly. His devastated father simply notes: “His heart was very soft… he had big dreams.” Sarah Hughes