CCTV footage has captured the moment two gunmen took pot-shots at each other from moving cars during a high-speed chase.
D’anglo Smith, 21, was behind the wheel of a Seat Ibiza while a gunman fired at a Renault Clio on the streets of Birmingham.
The footage shows the moment Smith stopped his silver Seat car while his accomplice leaned out of the passenger window and fired at the Renault, which was travelling in front.
The gunman accidentally misfired and the bullet ricocheted off the Seat’s bonnet into Tew Park Road, Handsworth.
Moments later, another CCTV clip showed another armed man in the blue Renault leaning out of the window and pointing a sawn-off shotgun at Smith’s Seat.
The chase took place at 5pm on 21 July last year.
Detectives traced the Seat to Smith’s partner and seized it two days later, when they found a bullet hole in the wing.
Analysis of Smith’s phone revealed text messages linking him to the shooting and showed he was in the area at the time of the shooting.
On Friday, Smith was jailed for 25 years at Birmingham Crown Court and was told he will serve a minimum of 15 behind bars.
He was found guilty of possessing an illegal gun with intent to endanger life and transferring a firearm, and admitted drug offences.
He told the jury he had offered the gunman, who has not been caught, a lift and was threatened at gunpoint to pursue the Renault.
Detective Constable Chris Bradley, from the Regional Organised Crime Unit (Rocu), said: “This was a hugely reckless act, firing a gun from a moving car.
“The gunman – who we’re still looking to trace – ended up hitting the bonnet of the car he was travelling in and it is lucky no one was hurt as it rebounded off.
“Smith claimed he was also a victim, that the passenger had pointed the gun at him and he had no idea the person was armed.
“However, the footage shows him driving at speed after the Clio, over traffic calming humps, and generally in a way suggesting he was complicit in the attack and not himself a victim.
“I’m pleased he’s been handed a lengthy jail sentence. We need to keep reiterating the message that anyone in possession of an illegal firearm runs the very real risk of spending many years behind bars.”
Smith’s girlfriend Bianca Ruddock, of Walsingham Drive in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was cleared of possessing a gun and drugs offences.
South West News Service
