Wolverhampton pair face long spell inside over shotgun and stabbing drama
Two young men face long jail sentences after a shotgun was fired at a group of people following the stabbing of their friend.
Kyle Hamilton was knifed six times in broad daylight in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, on March 3, 2016.
Friend Mohammed Jarral, aged 23, was with him when the stabbing took place in Lowe Street and took him to a nearby medical centre as news spread of the incident, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
When 21-year-old Okeem Smith heard what had happened he ran to the Whitmore Reans Medical Centre, saw friend Kyle Hamilton and spoke to Jarral, said Mr Hugh O’Brien Quinn, prosecuting.
Smith and Jarral left together in a VW Golf and parked close to an alley that led to nearby Devoran Close where a man suspected of involvement in the stabbing lived.
They walked into the street to prepared to confront the group of young men who had gathered there but thought better of it and ran because they were outnumbered.
The pair left, collected a shotgun before returning five minutes later to Devoran Close, where they loaded the gun, took two spare cartridges and left three more in the car.
Smith raised the gun and fired at least once, possibly twice, at the men who were still standing in the street barely 20 minutes after the stabbing, the court heard.
The pair left after a heated discussion with one of the other men but returned not long afterwards by which time police had been alerted.
Armed officers found 10 young men gathered in Devoran Close. Two escaped but the rest lay down on the ground and were arrested. These included Smith.
Police found two live cartridges on the ground near where Smith lay that matched a cartridge found at the shooting scene.
The live cartridges were lying at the spot where Smith had lain on the ground and his DNA was on a Ribena bottle dumped in the Golf which was traced to Chester Street in Whitmore Reans the following day. Jarral was not arrested until a month later.
Smith, of no fixed abode, and Jarral, 23, from Austin Street, Whitmore Reans, denied being involved in the shooting but the jury found them guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
They were remanded in custody while reports addressing the potential danger they pose were prepared for sentencing on January 17.
Judge Amjad Nawaz warned: “You are both young and this is likely to be your first lengthy custodial sentence.”
"The discharge of a firearm in public is always a serious matter and the background to this case makes it more so.”
Police inquiries continue into the stabbing of Mr Hamilton, who is understood not to be cooperating with the investigation.
