‘Brazen attempt on man’s life’: Birmingham police react as pair convicted of drive-by shooting

Two men have been convicted of attempted murder after a drive-by shooting of a man in Washwood Heath, Birmingham.

Usman Khan and Amaan Ajaz were found guilty of attempted murder and assisting an offender after a 32-year-old man was hit by bullets in on April 30 last year.

West Midlands Police officers were called after the man presented himself at Heartlands Hospital with gunshot wounds to his stomach and leg.

How police caught up with Amaan Ajaz

The victim had been travelling in a VW Golf in Shaw Hill Road when another car, a silver Toyota, pulled up alongside them and opened fire.

Officers tracked the movements of the car and the men in it, watching them get into a different car, a Seat, in Whitacre Road. This car belonged to Ajaz, who drove them around the city until the trail was lost.

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

How police caught up with Usman Khan - despite Northfield laundrette ‘alibi’

Clothing was found in the Seat and forensic work on the items found helped officers identify Khan. Despite Khan fleeing to Pakistan on May 10, he was arrested in October after returning to Birmingham via Dubai.

Both Khan, 22 and Ajaz, 20, denied everything in interviews, with Ajaz trying to claim he was simply running errands for a friend on the night, taking their clothes to a launderette in Northfield.

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Khan remained silent throughout his whole interview, answering "no comment" to all questions. Despite this, officers were able to put together a compelling case against the two, leading to them being charged with attempted murder on 5 October last year.

The pair were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on 26 April and will be sentenced at a later date.

‘Brazen attempt on man’s life’ - Police react to Washwood Heath drive by shooting convictions

Detective Inspector Francis Nock, from our 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.”

A spokesperson for WMP added: “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. To find out more about Op Target, visit https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/operation-target”