Wellingborough shooting trial – ‘Err, we’ve just been shot at’
Three innocent boys ‘feared for their lives' after they were accidentally shot by a drug dealer in a Wellingborough car park.
The moments after a shooting in Croyland Park have been replayed to an attempted murder trial jury.
Northampton Crown Court heard a 999 call made by three ‘completely unconnected’ young men in the aftermath of the shooting in the Wellingborough car park.
Kieran McGrath and Jake Anderson admit shooting at the Audi A1 on June 29 last year, but they deny attempting to murder the man they thought was inside – Raheem Bourne.
The trial has already heard that Bourne had told the McGrath, 30, that he was going to be in a car at the park at the time of the shooting, but he actually was miles away in London.
The pair instead shot at a car that contained a group of innocent young pals, two of whom had just finished shifts at a Rushden Lakes restaurant.
By ‘pure chance’ the boys were uninjured, but the jury has now heard the call they made to police, as well as statements they made to officers in the following days.
‘He started shooting’
Two of the boys, Boy A and B, had finished their evening’s work at 10.15pm before heading to the gym. Afterwards, they’d gone to pick up a pal, Boy C, from his home near Croyland Park. They wanted to see him because he’d recently returned from holiday. The trio then pulled up in Croyland Park Car Park where they often went during the day to ‘chill’.
While they were parked up, they saw a white mini drive past several times before it came into the car park, parked up behind them and flashed its lights. A man now known to be McGrath got out of the car and began shooting at them.
While being shot at by McGrath, the Audi driver, Boy A, managed to reverse out of the car park and drove in the direction of Wellingborough Police Station in Midland Road.
They called the force control room, telling an operator: “Err, we’ve just been shot at.”
Their call was played to the jury.
‘Did you see the gun?’
"With a gun?” asked the operator, in disbelief.
Boy B, aged 19, explained the car window had been shot at by a man who had got out of a white mini.
“Did you see the gun?” asked the operator.
“We heard it, we heard him,” said Boy B.
He was asked to describe what happened and he said: “He opened the car door, sneaked around to the back of the car, tried to sneak up on us and he started shooting.”
“And you’ve got no idea why this happened?” asked the operator.
"Nope,” said Boy B. “No idea,” added Boy A.
‘Something has been fired at this vehicle’
Shortly afterwards, police arrived at the car and body worn video recorded by PC Andy Stephens was shown to the jury.
The officer said: “So you got shot at?” and shone his torch at the back window of the car.
“How many shots was it?” he asked the boys.
"Four or five,” replied Boy B.
"What makes you say you were shot at,” asked the officer. “How do you know it was shots?”
The boys told the officer what happened, describing ‘bangs’ coming from the gun.
"It couldn’t have been somebody throwing something at your car, it was definitely shots?” he asked them.
"Yeah,” they replied.
The officer then noticed marks from the gun shots on the car and asked the boys whether they had been there before, which they told him they hadn’t.
"Have you got any issues with anybody?” he asked them.
"No,” they replied. “We’ve literally just come back from the gym after work.”
"I’ve got to say something has been fired at this vehicle,” said the officer, before alerting his colleagues.
‘That could have been my life over’
The three boys were later asked to give full statements in the hours after the shooting.
Boy B described himself as a ‘schoolboy’ in his statement.
He said: “I was working with my friend at Rushden Lakes. We finished work at 10.15pm and went straight to the Phoenix Gym opposite Wellingborough Police Station, getting there about 10.35pm.”
He said they’d stayed at the gym for nearly an hour before going to meet their friend, Boy C, who was just back from holiday.
"We went to Croyland Park as we sometimes chill there during the day,” he said. “We got there at 12.10am on June 29.”
He described seeing the white mini driving past on several occasions and said it was a ‘bit odd’.
The boy then outlined the shooting and said: “I heard really loud bangs and heard the windscreen smash.
"I had my head down. I was so scared for my life. That could have been my life over.
"We drove out quickly past little Tesco’s, drove towards town and I called the police at 12.24am and told them we’d been shot at.
"I’ve not idea what this incident is about.
"We’re good people and I’m not aware of any issues any of us have. We were just chilling in the car park and didn’t deserve any of this.
"I have no previous experience of firearms.”
Kieran John McGrath, of Duke Street, Wellingborough, and Jake Benjamin Anderson, of Stamford Road, Kettering, deny the attempted murder of Raheem Bourne and the alternative count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. McGrath has pleaded guilty to charge of possession of a firearm with intent to cause a person to believe unlawful violence would be used against them. Anderson denies that charge and denies being a drug dealer.
Neither Asriel McLeod or Anaiah Dupont-Spencer are standing trial in relation to this case.
The trial continues.
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Read our previous trial coverage here: