Police shooting victim ‘suspect in gun attack’
Man killed by armed officers allegedly part of a group later charged with conspiracy to murder
‘A single shot was fired by officer NX121 piercing the front windscreen of the vehicle Mr Kaba was driving’
CHRIS KABA, the man shot dead by police in south London in September, is suspected of being involved in a nightclub gun attack just days earlier, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
The 24-year-old was allegedly one of a group of five men suspected of conspiring to murder a rival at a Notting Hill Carnival after-party held in east London.
The victim was attending an event at the Oval Space nightclub in Cambridge Heath in the early hours of Aug 30 when the incident took place.
After being shot at on the dancefloor, the 23-year-old was chased from the venue into the street by a gunman who shot him twice.
The victim was taken to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where he was put under armed guard and treated for gunshot wounds to both legs. He survived the attack and is expected to make a full recovery.
Last week, four men appeared in court charged with conspiracy to murder. They appeared at Thames Magistrates Court on Oct 28 and were remanded into custody.
They are next due to appear at the Old Bailey on Nov 25 with a trial expected to take place next year.
The Telegraph understands that the prosecution case will allege Mr Kaba was involved in the plotting of the attack and was present at the time of the shooting.
The expectant father was shot dead by police on Sept 5, a week after the nightclub incident, as he was driving an Audi Q8 alone through south London.
At the opening of an inquest into Mr Kaba’s death last month, it was revealed that armed officers in an unmarked police car began covertly following the Audi after spotting it parked in the Camberwell Green area of south London.
The vehicle had triggered the police’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system, indicating it had been involved in a firearms incident the day before.
It is not clear whether the car had been linked to the nightclub shooting.
The armed officers followed the vehicle without activating their lights or sirens, intending to carry out an “enforced stop extraction” on the driver when it was deemed appropriate to do so.
The Audi was not owned by Mr Kaba and was not registered in his name, and Scotland Yard have said officers were not aware of the identity of the driver at the time.
At around 10.07pm Mr Kaba turned into Kirkstall Gardens, a residential road in the Streatham Hill area of south London, where a marked police armed response vehicle was waiting.
Armed police officers got out of their cars and walked towards the Audi, ordering the driver to exit his vehicle.
A witness at the scene has claimed the driver attempted to escape the roadblock by ramming his vehicle into one of the police cars.
One of the armed officers, identified only as NX121, who was standing in front of Mr Kaba’s car then opened fire.
A statement read out at the inquest said: “A single shot was fired by officer NX121 piercing the front windscreen of the vehicle Mr Kaba was driving and struck him.”
No firearms were discovered in the vehicle after Mr Kaba was shot and his family have suggested his race may have played a part in his death. The firearms officer was initially placed on restricted duties, but following complaints from Mr Kaba’s family and members of the community, he was subsequently suspended.
As with all police shootings the matter was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which launched an investigation.
On Sept 9, four days after the fatal shooting, the IOPC announced it had launched a homicide investigation and the officer was facing a potential murder or manslaughter charge.
Mr Kaba’s family have viewed the body-worn camera footage recorded by the Met Police and have called for a charging decision in the case of the officer to be made as soon as possible.
However, the IOPC has said it could take up to nine months to complete its investigation.
Mr Kaba was jailed for four years in 2019 after being convicted of a firearms offence. He was charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after shots were fired on Dec 30, 2017 in east London.
He appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January 2019 where he was found guilty of possessing an imitation firearm.
He was sentenced to four years in a Young Offenders Institute but was released on licence the following year.
In August that year, however, he was returned to jail after he was caught driving without insurance and with a knife in his car. Because the offences were committed while he was still on licence, he received an extra five months in custody.
Court records also show that in April this year, Mr Kaba was served with a 28-day domestic violence protection order relating to the mother of his unborn child, barring him from contacting her on social media or entering the street where she lives.
Mr Kaba’s family have insisted that his past is not relevant to the events that led up to his shooting and have said he would not have been killed if he had been white. His family have also insisted he had been working hard to turn his life around and harboured ambitions of becoming an architect.
Referring to the incident at the Hackney nightclub, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Police were called at 4.25am on Tuesday, Aug 30, to reports of a shooting at a nightclub in Temple Street, Hackney. Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service. A 23-year-old man was found with gunshot wounds and taken to hospital where his injuries were assessed as not lifethreatening.”
The spokesman confirmed that four men have been charged with conspiracy to murder and are next due to appear in court on Nov 25.
The Oval Space venue has had its licence revoked following the shooting.