A bullet was fired through the window of a home where a mum lived with her 10-month-old baby and elderly mother as a volley of gunshots was discharged towards two men in the street. Jama Yusuf is accused of being the gunman who launched a total of seven shots at his alleged intended targets while cycling through the streets of Toxteth.
This also led to bullets being fired into the brickwork of another house and a parked van. With police having come knocking at his door two days later, the teenage defendant was said to have responded by asking: "Was it a bad shooting? Did anyone get hurt?"
Court hears details of shooting
While CCTV footage apparently showed Yusuf wearing clothing matching that of the bike rider while earlier rolling a cigarette and buying milk from a convenience store, he denies being the assailant. He went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court today accused of a series of firearms offences.
A jury of seven men and five women heard during the prosecution's opening on Thursday that the seven gunshots were discharged by the cyclist as he rode along Millennium Road, Seaport Street and Kingsley Road shortly after midnight on October 5 last year while supposedly firing in the direction of two other men, who fled the scene on foot and on another bicycle.
Bullet missed elderly mother
Steven Swift, appearing for the crown, told the court: "One of the bullets embedded itself into the living room wall of the home address of Ms Hiba Abdi. She resides with her mother and 10-month-old baby at Kingsley Road. She could recall being upstairs, searching for a phone charger at this time, her mother sitting downstairs on a sofa under the window, when she heard a shout, a scream."
"Her mother was really unable to appreciate what had just happened. She thought that somebody might have thrown something at the window. On closer inspection, it became clear that there was a small hole in the blind and curtain and a bullet had gone through, missing Ms Abdi's elderly mother."
"You will hear evidence that another bullet damaged the brickwork of an address on Seaport Street. Another damaged the rear door of a Peugeot Boxer van parked on Seaport Street, and there was other damage to metal shutters on Granby Street."
Evidence links defendant to shooting
CSI officers subsequently recovered seven spent bullet casings and five live 9mm rounds from the scene, with CCTV enquiries subsequently linking Yusuf to the incident. Footage from the bodyworn camera of a police officer, captured in August of last year as the 19-year-old was stopped and searched, showed him wearing a dark coloured Rab coat with his hood up, a garment said to match that of the alleged gunman when he was seen rolling a cigarette in the communal hallway of a block of flats on Parliament Place and buying milk from Granby Minimarket earlier on the evening of the shooting.
Yusuf, who appeared suited in the dock with long black hair, was also said to have been seen "making a gun gesture with his hand" while cycling past the same shop on a red bike shortly before midnight. Having then made his purchase, jurors were told that he returned to his home on Eversley Street, being seen in the rear courtyard of this address before leaving again shortly afterwards in the minutes before the shooting.
Mr Swift added: "Just after nine minutes after midnight, the gunshots are heard. You may think that multiple discharges of a gun, aimed towards two individuals, demonstrates the clearest intention to endanger the lives of those individuals."
Defendant's comments to police
Further footage was said to have captured Yusuf returning home once more at 12.11am before leaving again and returning to Parliament Place in a change of clothing. He was then seen shopping with his mum at Footasylum on Edge Lane the following day while buying new clothes.
Two days after the shooting, on October 7, officers conducting house to house enquiries in the area visited Yusuf's home address. Having been asked for access to his Ring doorbell camera, he was reported to have replied: "Well, wasn't it all the way over on Kingsley?"
After being told that police required the footage in order to trace the movements of the suspect, Yusuf then added: "Was it a bad shooting? Did anyone get hurt?"
Mr Swift said of this: "The crown say that this interaction with the police is significant. It was as a result of that conversation and the nature of the responses provided by the defendant that enquiries commenced."
This led to Yusuf handing himself in at St Anne Street Police Station on October 9, subsequently making no comment when interviewed on this occasion and during a second round of questioning in December.
Trial continues
Mr Swift concluded his opening by telling the jury: "The crown say that this defendant was the man with the gun, firing live bullets in Toxteth in the early hours of the morning on the 5th of October and that, having heard all of the evidence in this case, the crown say that you can be sure of his guilt in relation to the counts he faces."
Yusuf, who is represented by Philip Astbury, denies possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, possession of ammunition without a certificate and two counts of criminal damage in relation to the window of the home on Kingsley Road and the Peugeot van. The trial, before Judge Ian Harris, continues.
