Man charged after police find guns & weapons at home in Ward End, Birmingham

A man has been charged after being found with guns at a home in Birmingham.

On 22 January officers attended a reported disorder on Headingly Road, Birmingham. Enquiries led to an address nearby, where a home-made slam gun, shotgun cartridges and a blank firing pistol were found in the rear courtyard. The pistol had been converted to fire live ammunition.

On 10 February, police arrested a 17-year-old boy from an address in Birmingham on suspicion of firearms offences. He was later bailed, but was charged for two knife possession related offences.

Yesterday (28 February), following further inquiries, officers attended an address in Asquith Road, Ward End where two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested. Several other weapons and a large quantity of ammunition were recovered from this address.

This morning (1 March), Kemarn Riley, aged 22 of Asquith Road, Birmingham, was charged with the two firearms possession offences from January. He was remanded into custody to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court tomorrow (2 March). The 20-year-old man was bailed pending further enquiries.

What has West Midlands Police said about the arrest?

Detective Inspector Michelle Cordell, from Force CID, said: “We will continue to do everything possible to protect people from the devastating impact of gun crime. This includes acting on information to remove these lethal weapons from our streets.

“We will be relentless in our efforts to save lives and are actively working with communities, particularly in high crime areas to reduce crime and violence.

“We know becoming more involved with neighbourhoods and other agencies is a key part to achieving our goals. Working together is the only real way that we can start to address the root causes of gun crime, which we know sadly often involves young people who are sucked into gang and drugs related crime.”