Squabble between rival gangs ended with man gunned down

A BITTER feud between rival postcode gangs ended with a drive-by shooting which led to the wrong man dying in a hail of bullets, a court heard yesterday.

The killing in Sheffield saw 22-year-old James Kamara hit in the chest by several shots from a single 9mm self-loading pistol as he tried to escape through a car window.

A woman bystander with her three-week-old daughter in a pram had to lean across the pram to protect her baby, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Paul Watson QC said: “It was a pre-meditated and cold-blooded killing although maybe the young man who died was not the intended target.”

The court heard members of the S3 gang, who are named after the postcode for the Burngreave area of the city, clashed with a rival group outside a city centre bar just 90 minutes before the fatal shooting.

Abuse was swapped and S3 members armed themselves with ashtrays, bottles and glasses which they threw at their rivals, who identify with the S10 postcode area of Broomhall.

Marcus Thompson, one of the leading members of the S3 gang, backed down after squaring up to the rival group’s “hardman” Marcus Anderson; the gangs then parted.

The prosecution said a plot was hatched by the S3 men to exact revenge for Thompson's “loss of face.”

Mr Watson said: “Central to a proper understanding of this case is an appreciation of the deep and bitter rivalry between these two groups.

“Any perceived insult, loss of face or act of disrespect inevitably results in old hatreds boiling over and erupting into violence between the two.”

The intended target of the S3 attack was Marcus Anderson, who had been drinking with his friend James Kamara when Thompson and his associates arrived.

Mr Watson said Thompson, 31, his cousin Tobias Thompson, 27, and Aaron Storey, 21, drove to their rivals' turf across the city centre in a silver Vauxhall Vectra after picking up the gun.

Witnesses saw the car driving slowly around the streets of Broomhall where the gang is based with the occupants from the S3 area “clearly looking for their quarry.”

As they arrived at Brunswick Street, Marcus Anderson was standing outside his cousin Jermaine Anderson's house with a group of friends on one of the hottest days last summer.

James Kamara was sat in the passenger seat of a VW Golf nearby with the driver, his cousin Tobias Clarke, a member of the S10-based gang who drove Anderson around.

Suddenly shots were fired and the back window of the VW was shattered. Clarke, who was shot in the chest, ducked down and heard James Kamara scream “I’ve been hit.”

Mr Kamara climbed over him in an attempt to get through the open driver's door window.

Further shots were fired and Clarke was hit again in the arm. Mr Watson said: “Immediately after the shooting he saw James Kamara laid on his back with his eyes open.”

A firearms expert later said at least 11 shots were fired from the passing car. Mr Kamara died from seven gunshot wounds.

Within two hours the Vectra had been burned out and Marcus Thompson allegedly fled the scene on a moped with S3 member Barrington Broomfield, 21.

Tobias Thompson was arrested in Liverpool five days later as were Storey and Broomfield. Marcus Thompson fled to Spain and was arrested later.

Marcus Thompson, of Firth Park, Sheffield, denies murdering James Kamara and conspiracy to murder Marcus Anderson or another.

Tobias Thompson, Storey, of Shirecliffe and Broomfield, of Crookes, all in Sheffield, each deny conspiracy to murder Marcus Anderson.

The trial continues.