Two men have been sentenced after a brazen drive-by shooting on a busy Black Country high street left a man seriously injured but alive.
On the morning of May 1 last year, a black Vauxhall Mokka pulled up near the junction of Trinity Way and West Bromwich High Street. Its driver fired two shots at a white VW Golf waiting to turn right. The first bullet missed, but the second shattered the Golf’s rear windscreen.
The victim, a man in his twenties, quickly fled the scene and sought emergency treatment at Midland Metropolitan Hospital with shotgun wounds to his shoulder and the back of his head. Fortunately, he survived the violent assault.
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West Midlands Police’s Major Crime Unit meticulously reviewed extensive CCTV footage to piece together the events leading up to and following the shooting. Their investigation identified 22-year-old Adyan Hussain as the driver of the Mokka who fired the shots.
About 30 minutes before the shooting, Adyan was dropped off by Naveed Hussain, also 22, on Leopard Lane, West Bromwich. Adyan then drove off in the Mokka, changing its number plates just before the attack. After the shooting, he abandoned the car in Oldbury. The two men retrieved the vehicle the next day and switched the plates again.
Adyan Hussain, of Salisbury Road, West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and received an 11-year and three-month prison sentence at a November hearing. Naveed Hussain, of Ida Road, West Bromwich, admitted assisting an offender and was sentenced to four years in prison on January 9.
Detective Inspector Francis Nock of the Major Crime Unit Reactive Team expressed concern over the incident, calling it a “violent attack on a busy high street,” capable of causing fatal harm. He underscored the commitment of police to removing firearms from the streets and holding offenders accountable.
The police continue their efforts through Operation Target, working round the clock to identify, disrupt, and arrest individuals involved in serious and organized crime across the West Midlands.