Shocking footage shows a gun-toting thug hanging from the window of a BMW as a petty rival gang feud spilled out onto the street.
An innocent member of the public narrowly escaped with their life as a bullet hit their car when the mindless violence unfolded.
Sean Cowie, 32, fired a handgun twice in broad daylight on a Tuesday afternoon in Newton Heath, Manchester.
He was jailed alongside David Urey, 39, who was at the wheel of the BMW, and Paul Ryan, 42, who was following in a VW Golf.
The shooting came as part of an ongoing dispute between two gangs, Minshull Street Crown Court heard, the Manchester Evening News reports.
It was carried out after those in the Golf they chased had ‘very badly beaten up’ a friend of theirs, the court was told.
The gun was supposed to be ‘waved as a warning’ and not fired, Ryan claimed.
"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.
"He's (Cowie) in a moving vehicle, not experienced in the use of firearms so those bullets could have gone anywhere."
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.
"This was broad daylight on a busy road in Greater Manchester," sentencing judge Angela Neild said.
" Greater Manchester, particularly the city centre area, and this was not very far at all from the city centre, has sadly been no stranger to the use of guns in the course of commission of crime, often while there are rival gangs competing for whatever prize of a criminal nature might be at stake at any one time.
"That bullet could have gone anywhere."
Prosecutor Olivia Beesley told how the shooting unfolded in a busy area in the centre of Newton Heath. She said: “At around 1.40pm on January 19, 2021, Cowie was a rear passenger in the BMW which was being driven by Urey.
"Ryan was a passenger in the VW Golf which was following the BMW. Captured on CCTV, they are seen driving along Old Church Street in the direction of Culcheth Lane.
"Travelling along Great Newton Street, another individual was driving a VW Golf before it turned onto Old Church Street. At the junction with Briscoe Lane, both vehicles turned and a thin black object was pulled out of the rear side passenger window. It was not possible to say who held that object at the time.
"CCTV captured both cars travelling along Briscoe Lane, at that point the gun was discharged with Cowie leaning out of the rear side of the BMW pointing the gun in the direction of the car ahead. The area was described by police as a busy, built up area."
A passing Hyundai, driven by a man on his way home from work, was hit by one of the shots at the rear left side of the vehicle. The VW Golf carrying Ryan then joined up with the BMW before the three cars left the scene.
Ryan said he thought the gun in the BMW was to be shown to those in the Golf as a ‘warning’. He also revealed he was also given a shotgun from the Golf, and ordered to take it inside his house to hide it from the police.
Ryan claimed he was unaware the gun had been fired until later, as there was an ‘unwritten agreement’ to cause fear of violence by waving it instead of discharging it.
Cowie, Urey and Ryan were all arrested in the days following. On January 21, police found a sawn-off shotgun at Ryan's house, which had his DNA on the trigger.
Cowie's barrister described the shooting as a 'stupid mistake'. Barry Grennan said: "I don’t accept he was on a jaunt of his own, it was a joint enterprise. It was something to do with a friend of theirs being very badly beaten up by people in the car they were chasing after. It was meant to frighten them off."
For Ryan, David Bentley said: “The shotgun was put into possession of Mr Ryan a short time before he got into the Golf which travelled to the area where it met up with the BMW and the gunshot was fired.
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.
