Two convicted over Birmingham drive-by shooting

Two men have been convicted after a drive-by shooting in Birmingham. It happened in Shaw Hill Road in Washwood Heath on Sunday, April 30 last year.

A 32-year-old man had been travelling in a Volkswagen Golf when a silver Toyota pulled up alongside and a gunman inside opened fire. The victim went to Heartlands Hospital with gunshot wounds to his stomach and leg.

West Midlands Police officers tracked the movements of the car and the men in it and watched them transfer to another car, a Seat, in Whitacre Road, around a mile from the shooting incident. That car belonged to Amaan Ajaz, of Mead Crescent, Little Bromwich, who drove around the city until the trail was lost.

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But following forensics work on the abandoned Toyota, Ajaz was stopped driving the Seat on May 5 and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder along with the other occupants.

Clothing was found in the Seat and forensic work on the items found helped officers identify Usman Khan, of Sladefield Road, Saltley, as a second suspect. Khan fled to Pakistan on May 10, but was arrested by officers in October after returning to Birmingham via Dubai.

Both Khan, 22 and Ajaz, 20, denied everything in interviews, with Ajaz tryng to claim he was simply running errands for a friend on the night, taking their clothes to a launderette in Northfield. Khan remained silent throughout his whole interview, answering ‘no comment’ to all questions.

Despite the denials and silence police officers were able to put together a ‘compelling case’ against the two suspects. They were charged with attempted murder on October 5 last year.

The pair were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court today, Friday, April 26, and will be sentenced at a later date. Khan was convicted of attempted murder while Ajaz was convicted of assisting an offender.

Det Insp Francis Nock, from the force’s Major Crimes Unit, said: "This was a brazen attempt on a man's life which could easily have led to his death. Thanks to the hard work of all the officers involved, we were able to identify, locate and arrest Khan and Ajaz.

"Firearms have no place on our streets and we are committed to tracking down and arresting those who would use them to commit crimes." The force said: “We’re continuing to take drugs, guns and serious criminals off the streets under our forcewide crackdown on organised crime – Operation Target.

“In 2023, we recovered more than 130 firearms from the West Midlands, up from 121 the previous year, while the number of firearms discharges also fell. Our proactive major crime team officers made a number of key arrests in recent weeks.”