Tackling gun crime is one of Greater Manchester Police's top priorities, ever since the dark days of the 1990s when the city earned the infamous nickname 'Gunchester'. And while huge progress has been made in curbing the supply of firearms and cracking down on gangs, disputes in the criminal underworld can still explode in gun violence, with potentially deadly consequences for innocent bystanders.
Over the last 12 months Greater Manchester's courts have heard a series of cases involving shootings on the streets. And the reasons behind them ranged from gangland feuds to jealousy.
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The broad daylight drive-by shooting as children walked nearby
Gang rivalry spilled out onto the street in this terrifying drive-by shooting in broad daylight. A family of eight were yards away as four to five shots were fired from a passing Mercedes.
Two men were blasted in the legs and seriously hurt in Cheetham Hill on a busy Friday afternoon. The pair were 'lured' out of the Godfather café off Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Three men faced trial in relation to the shooting. Hazhar Anwar, 29, and Danyal Ahmed, 24, were convicted of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Ahsan Shabbir, 20, was acquitted of the same two charges. Anwar, Ahmed and Shabbir were also accused of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Anwar was found guilty, Shabbir was acquitted and jurors could not reach a verdict in Ahmed's case.
Prosecutors alleged that the gunman is Mr Shabbir's brother, named in court as Faizan Shabbir. "The offence bore the hallmarks of gang rivalry, and this was an attempt to cause serious injury to others," prosecutor Alaric Bassano told jurors.
Sentencing is due to be held at a later date.
Innocent member of the public caught up in drive-by shooting
Hanging out of a BMW, gun-toting Sean Cowie fired a handgun twice on a Tuesday afternoon in Newton Heath. A member of the public was caught up in the shocking incident, their car hit by a stray bullet.
Detectives said someone could easily have been killed, as petty feuds spilled out onto the street. David Urey, 39, was behind the wheel of the BMW which was chasing a VW Golf.
He and Cowie, 32, were then followed by Paul Ryan, 42 who was in another VW Golf. The chase continued along Droylsden Road towards Ashton before the three cars split up.
"Somebody quite easily could have been killed on that day," Detective Inspector Claire Moss told the Manchester Evening News . "An innocent member of the public who was on his way home from work has had his vehicle hit.
"There were people wandering around on the streets. Bullets could have ricocheted off anything, they could have hit anybody."
Minshull Street Crown Court heard the shooting came as part of an ongoing dispute between two gangs, and was committed in retaliation after those in the Golf they chased had ‘very badly beaten up’ a friend of theirs. Cowie, of Hardman Lane, Failsworth; Urey, of Ten Acres Lane, Newton Heath; and Ryan, of Ashton Road East, Failsworth; all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and Ryan pleaded guilty to a separate offence of possession of a prohibited firearm.
Cowie was jailed for five years and seven months, Urey for five years and four months and Ryan was sentenced to six-and-a-half years.
"He's got a f****** gun"...the terrifying shootings at a taxi office and a house
Aaron Gray, 25, pulled the trigger at two separate shootings. He opened fire at a taxi office in Salford, then shot at a house in Whitefield months later.
A woman was working at the Swan taxis office in Eccles when she heard a 'loud bang' at the door. After checking to see what the noise was, she was confronted by a gunman.
She shouted to a colleague: "He's got a f****** gun." Shortly after she heard another 'loud bang'. "It need hardly be said, it was terrifying," prosecutor Andrew Ford QC said.
Police recovered a single 9mm fired cartridge case, and later recovered a Glock pistol found 'dumped' in a wheelie bin nearby, on December 8, 2019. Gray and another man, 28-year-old drug dealer Dominic Hughes, were forensically linked to the firearm.
Then in early hours of February 25, 2020, a shooting was reported at a house in Whitefield. A living room window was damaged after a bullet was fired through the living room at 'chest height'.
Jurors at Manchester Crown Court were told that an ex-boyfriend of an occupant of the house had been arrested months earlier in connection with drugs and firearms offences. Hughes, of no fixed address; and Gray, of Rayleigh Close, Radcliffe, denied possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life in relation to the shooting in December 2019, but were both found guilty
Hughes and Gray also denied further charges of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to possess ammunition with intent to endanger life, in relation to the second shooting. The pair were found guilty of both charges.
Sentencing is due to take place at a later date.
Drug dealer shot love rival at point blank range
Vincenzo De Falco blasted his love rival at point blank range with a shotgun. De Falco's girlfriend Lucy Flux was an ex-partner of the victim, and in the weeks before the shooting she and the victim had been texting.
It was through him that the victim arranged to buy an ounce of cannabis from De Falco. He travelled to Rochdale to meet 30-year-old De Falco in a Mercedes C-Class.
Inside the car, De Falco confronted the victim about his contact with Ms Flux and shouted: "You think I’m some sort of muppet." The victim reassured De Falco that he was just friends with Ms Flux, and that there was nothing to worry about.
De Falco then said: "You want to get shot," the victim noticing a shotgun was being pointed towards him. Then De Falco told another man to let the victim out of the car.
As he shuffled across the back seat to leave, De Falco shot the victim in the leg at point-blank range. He was dumped out of the car onto the pavement, where passers-by called for am ambulance.
In the aftermath, De Falco concocted a plan to hide the car and then get it cleaned. His mother, 59-year-old nurse Patricia Dean, then took the car, which was leased through the NHS, to be professionally cleaned in a failed attempt to get rid of the evidence.
De Falco pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and supplying cannabis. He was jailed for 11 years and three months.
Dean was locked up for 18 months after being found guilty of assisting an offender.
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