Victim killed in shooting was jailed for gun threat
Dead man had been prosecuted after pointing gun at officer
AMAN shot dead near City Hospital had previously been jailed for a firearms offence himself.
Gavin Parry, 31, suffered fatal injuries in the daylight attack in Western Road, Winson Green, at 5.30pm on Tuesday, April 13.
A second man, 22, was also seriously injured in the shooting on an industrial estate.
Police say they believed the two men were known to each other.
Officers arrested a 29-year-old man arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and community sources named Mr Parry as the man who was shot dead.
The Post has learned he was jailed for six years in 2008 for possession of a firearm with intent, a weapon he had pointed at a police officer.
The city crown court heard Pc Azam Shazad ‘froze’ and feared the then 18-year-old would pull the trigger ‘at any moment’. Parry reportedly strolled away and tried to hide before he was eventually arrested by armed police. He was sentenced to six years’ detention after admitting possessing a shotgun with intent.
Short of using the gun, Judge Phillip Parker QC said it was the most serious kind of offence involving a loaded shotgun one could imagine.
The violence which claimed Parry’s life was a “daytime shoot-out in the street” over drugs, a source claimed.
The source told the Post: “The men were shooting at each other on a street in broad daylight. Innocent people walking on the road could have been killed. It is absolutely shocking.”
The source also claimed two incidents later in the evening were linked to the shootings.
A 14-year-old boy was stabbed in Burbury Park, Lozells, at around 7pm. He survived and was recovering in hospital. Two boys, both aged 15 were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the stabbing. Then an innocent 16-year-old boy was shot as he waited with his girlfriend near a bus stop on St Vincent Street, near the Utilita Arena, formerly the NIA.
Adriano Shakes survived the random attack with injuries to his arm. The head boy at Holyhead School, in Handsworth, spent two days in hospital.
His father Hector, 43, said: “He was standing at a bus stop with his girlfriend. If the bus hadn’t been late he wouldn’t have been shot.
“My son is a good boy. He is head boy at Holyhead School in Handsworth. He loves his football and his music. My other son was stabbed last year. He was 18 and survived the attack, but the streets are so dangerous in Birmingham.
“There has always been problems with gun and knife crime but the people involved in violence are just getting younger and younger and they have no regard for life. Your kids aren’t safe on the streets anymore.”
And he claimed: “These youths play a crazy game where they score themselves points for hitting people in certain places either by shooting or stabbing them.
“It is just like a sick game to them and they get a kick out of shooting people like Adriano as they pass by.”
Community activist Desmond Jaddoo told the Post: “I had a number of calls from people saying they don’t feel safe walking on the streets anymore. I think the violence is worse than it has ever been in Birmingham.
“I do feel the police have lost the streets. They may be stepping up patrols now but they should have done it before this happened. It is too late. We need intervention programmes to stop youngsters progressing into violent crime and we need strong leadership. Enough is enough now.”
West Midlands Police would not comment on reports of a “shoot-out” at Western Road and said officers were keeping an “open mind” about potential links between the three violent incidents.