‘These cowards didn’t even ask my son a simple question, they just ran him down and shot my 13-year-old in his back, like he was nothing’
Footage has been released showing three gang members fleeing from an underpass where they gunned down an”innocent” 13-year-old boy for simply straying onto their “turf” – leaving him paralysed.
Zidann Edwards and Diago Anderson, both 20, and 17-year-old Tafique Thomas were jailed for life on Friday for attempted murder over the incident in Birmingham on 18 November last year.
The victim and his friends were on their way to get food when he was attacked in an underpass at Hockley Circus for staying into the “territory” of the Armed Response gang, a court heard. Police said the teen was “innocent” and had done nothing to provoke the attack.
The victim managed to call 999, despite his injuries, to tell the ambulance service he had been shot.
Firearms officers provided life-saving first aid before paramedics arrived and the teenager was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. The court heard the boy has been left paraplegic as a result of one of the pellets from the homemade gun passing through his spinal cord.
Following the attack, Edwards made a drill rap music video expressing his regret that he had failed to kill the young boy.
CCTV revealed a stolen Nissan screeching up alongside the teenage victim before Edwards, Anderson and Thomas got out of the car.
#JAILED | Three teenagers are behind bars for paralysing a 13-year-old boy following a shooting at the underpass in Hockley Circus in November last year.
More 👉https://t.co/lZc1gba8Sz pic.twitter.com/tMAglFJuKg
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) October 14, 2022
The boy and his friends were then chased into the underpass before the victim was blasted in the back with a home-made shotgun, known as a slam gun.
Footage released by police on Friday shows the trio running from the scene, one with a skip in his step, and driving off.
The car was later recovered and forensically linked to the suspects.
Officers arrested the trio and recovered more evidence, including the clothing they wore on the day of the shooting along with several phones.
Police also recovered a handgun and a slam gun from an address linked to Thomas and further examination helped prove this was the weapon used in the attack.
All three were convicted of attempted murder at Birmingham Crown Court in August and were jailed for life at the same court on Friday.
Thomas, who can now be identified after reporting restrictions were lifted, was also found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and possession of a prohibited weapon.
Edwards was jailed for a minimum of 17 years, Anderson for a minimum of 18 years and Thomas for a minimum of 16 years and eight months.
Following the case, the mum of the paralysed teen said: “These cowards didn’t even ask my son a simple question, they just ran him down and shot my 13-year-old in his back, like he was nothing.
“But my son is strong, strong like a lion and no weapon formed against him will ever prosper.”
Detective Inspector Michelle Cordell, from West Midlands Police CID, slammed the attack at “unprovoked and callous” saying the trio had changed the life “of an innocent boy forever”.
“The events of that evening are simply heart breaking – it did not need to happen and I am deeply saddened by the fear the young boy must have felt before being so seriously injured,” Cordell said.
“Gun crime is so damaging, there are never any winners. I hope the outcome today sends a really clear message to anyone engaging in gang or gun crime. “It’s a serious offence for which you will be punished.
“While no sentence can ever change the tragic events of that day, I hope that it provides some comfort to the boy and his family as they continue to rebuild their lives.”
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