Moment Chris Kaba 'shoots rival in crowded nightclub' just days before gangster was shot dead by police
by Kit Heren · LBCCPS footage shows moment Chris Kaba shoots rival in nightclub
By Kit Heren
This is the moment a man thought to be Chris Kaba shot a rival in a crowded nightclub in east London, before chasing him down and shooting him again.
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The footage was released after an armed police officer was acquitted of the murder of gangster Kaba, 24, who was shot dead in a car while trying to ram his way out a police roadblock.
Kaba was accused of being a "core member" of the 67 gang from Brixton, one of London's most dangerous street gangs, and was accused of being involved in two shootings in less than a week before his death.
Prosecutors say Kaba was the gunman in a Hackney nightclub shooting that took place just days before he was killed. Three other 67 members were jailed for the attack earlier this year.
Footage shared by the Crown Prosecution Service after reporting restrictions were lifted by the courts following Blake's acquittal shows a man thought to be Kaba stalking his rival across the Oval Space nightclub in Cambridge Heath with a gun.
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CCTV footage shows how the man produced the weapon and shot the rival in the leg.
Panicked revellers fled the club and none were hurt.
The gunman then chased the wounded victim out of the club as he tried to get away, and shot him again in the leg.
He and his fellow gangsters Shemiah Bell, Marcus Pottinger and Connel Bamgboye then drove off in two cars.
The victim went to the hospital but did not cooperate with the police prosecution.
Despite this, Bell, Pottinger and Bamgboye were all convicted over their role in the attack. If Kaba had been alive, he would also have stood trial for attempted murder, prosecutors said.
Kaba and his fellow gangsters were also suspected of carrying out a second gun attack near a school in Brixton a few days later - just 24 hours before he was killed by police.
One of the getaway cars used by the gunmen in that attack was the Audi that Kaba was driving when he was killed.
Kaba's link to the Brixton shooting has not been confirmed, although shotgun residue was found on his sleeve.
The same Audi was also linked to a shooting in Bromley, south-east London, five months earlier, in which two people were injured.
Kaba also had previous convictions for possession of weapons. In 2019, he was sentenced to four years in a young offenders' institute for possession of weapons, but was released the next year.
Kaba was sent back to prison after a knife was found in his car when he was stopped by police for driving without insurance.
He was a father-to-be before his death, but he also had a domestic violence protection order against him relating to the mother of his unborn child.
Kaba was unarmed at the time of his death, and Blake, the officer who shot him, was unaware of his past crimes.
Blake shot the 24-year-old through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 as he tried to ram his way past police cars on September 5 2022.
An application had been made by Kaba's mother Helen Lumuanganu to keep a ban on revealing the details in place until after any future inquest into her son's death.
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But this was rejected after the media successfully challenged the bid.
In a letter to the court, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy had argued that "open and transparent public disclosure" of Mr Kaba's bad character would "significantly reduce the risk of unrest on the streets of London and keep the public safe".
Police officers did not know who was driving the Audi on the night Kaba died, but they did know it had been used as a getaway car in the Brixton shooting the night before.
It was also linked to the Hackney nightclub shooting.
Before Mr Blake's trial began, his defence team had argued that the full background should be put before the jury, because the nightclub shooting explained why Kaba wanted to escape police.
Patrick Gibbs KC said Kaba had been intent on getting away "at any costs no matter the danger to another person".
Neither Kaba's gang history nor criminal record was revealed in the trial of Mr Blake after a senior judge ruled it had no bearing on the issues for jurors to decide.
Anger has been sparked on all sides following Mr Blake's acquittal in just over three hours by a jury at the Old Bailey on Monday.
Mr Kaba's family said they are "devastated" at the verdict, and have vowed to keep on fighting for justice for their son.
Police figures have questioned why the case was ever brought to court, with colleagues said to "remain astonished" that Mr Blake ever faced charges.
The former marksman called for police officers who take fatal shots to face court martial-style hearings rather than jury trials, adding: "There's a problem when police officers are scrutinised by people who don't necessarily understand the pressures and the issues involved."
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Mr Blake will be immediately reinstated to his job but will need to undergo refresher training before being deployed operationally.
Watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct will decide whether he should face disciplinary proceedings.
Before the jury delivered its verdict on Monday, it had sent a note to Mr Justice Goss asking for permission also to pass comment, which was denied.
Following speculation about what the jury might have said, the media, supported by a lawyer for Mr Kaba's family, asked the senior judge to release the note.
Mr Justice Goss refused.