Credit: CPS
The man shot dead by police in south London two years ago was a violent armed gangster who gunned down a rival in a crowded nightclub just days before he was murdered, it can now be revealed.
Despite his family claiming convicted criminal Chris Kaba tried to turn his life around, the 24-year-old remained a key player in one of London’s most feared and dangerous gangs.
In the early hours of August 30, 2022 – just six days before he died – Kaba and three of his gang members smuggled a gun into a Notting Hill Carnival after-party at the Oval Space nightclub in Cambridge Heath, Hackney.
After spotting a rival on the crowded dance floor, Kaba coolly raised the gun and fired, hitting his 23-year-old target in the leg.
CCTV footage from inside the club captured the terrifying moment.
Miraculously, no one else was injured, but panicked partygoers were sent fleeing for their lives.
However, Kaba wasn’t done yet and as his wounded target tried to escape, he chased him from the nightclub into the street and shot him again as he lay on the ground.
Credit: CPS
He and his fellow gang members then left the scene in two cars, including the Audi he was driving the following Sunday evening when he was shot dead by police.
The victim was rushed to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where he was placed under armed guard and treated for gunshot wounds to both legs.
He refused to cooperate with police and later discharged himself from hospital against medical advice.
In February this year, three men, Shemiah Bell, Marcus Pottinger and Connell Bamgboye, were convicted for their role in the attack.
During their trial, prosecutors said that had he been alive, Kaba would have been tried for attempted murder.
But Kaba’s armed activities remained far from quiet after the incident.
On Saturday, September 4 – just 24 hours before he was shot dead by police – Kaba and his gang are suspected of carrying out a gun attack outside a primary school in Brixton.
Members of the public reported seeing three masked, hooded men open fire with a shotgun at a white Mercedes with two people inside.
The suspects were then noted to change clothes and get into two getaway cars, including the Audi Q8 driven by Kaba when he was shot.
Although the shooter’s identity was never confirmed, after Kaba’s death his clothes were examined and gunshot residue was found on his sleeve. A balaclava was also recovered from the scene.
The Audi, which was not officially registered to Kaba, was also linked to a shooting in Bromley about five months earlier in May 2022.
In that case, two people suffered gunshot wounds after being shot by unknown assailants.
Kaba’s criminal record dated back to the age of 13, but by his late teens he had moved from petty crime to serious violence, with convictions for stabbings and grievous bodily harm.
In 2017, while still a teenager, he was charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after shots were fired in the Canning Town area of east London.
He appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January 2019 where he was found guilty of possessing an imitation firearm.
Kaba was sentenced to four years in a Young Offenders Institute but was released on license in 2020.
Not long after his release, he was sent back to prison after a knife was discovered in his car when he was stopped by police for driving without insurance.
He was given an additional five months in prison because the offenses were committed while he was still in possession of a driver’s license.
At the time of his death, Kaba was an expectant father, but court records show that he was served a 28-day domestic violence protection order in April 2022 in relation to the mother of his unborn child.
The order prohibited him from contacting her on social media or going onto the street where she lived.
His family claimed that after his stint in prison, he worked hard to make a fresh start with ambitions to become an architect.
But in reality Kaba was one of the leading figures in Brixton’s Hill’s infamous 67 gang, an organized criminal network and drill rap collective.
The fifty or so gang members controlled the lucrative drug trade in the area, using firearms and knives to terrorize their rivals and protect their business and territory.
In 2019, a member of 67 was convicted of a gangland murder, and there have also been numerous stabbings and shootings linked to its members.
In 2021, a Kaba employee was stabbed to death and in May 2022, two people were shot dead during a robbery by members of 67.
The 67 gang was also active in the drill rap scene and was even nominated as Best Newcomer at the 2016 Music of Black Origin awards.
Kaba, who went by the name Itch, appeared in several videos produced by the outfit.
Credit: Independent Office for Police Conduct
According to the Metropolitan Police, far from being focused on music, 67 was the most serious criminal gang in London.
In 2019, police disrupted a drug trafficking operation in the province, resulting in 16 people, including 67 key figures, being jailed for a total of 61 years.
At the time of his death, Kaba was the subject of a preliminary gang injunction intended to restrain him from engaging in organized criminal activity.
Credit: Independent Office for Police Conduct
The Metropolitan Police was about to apply to make the order permanent and a hearing was scheduled for ten days after he was shot dead.
Before Martyn Blake, the officer who shot Kaba, went on trial, police said they had information that there was a credible threat to his life from members of 67.
An assessment sent to the court by a senior officer said: ‘In almost thirty years of service I have never been so concerned about an officer’s welfare or the risk of harm to them and their family as I am about the officer in prison. this case.
He continued: “There is specific information indicating the risk to the officer’s life and that members of Gang 67 are actively searching or locating him as a result of Mr Kaba’s death.”