Chris Kaba was 'core gang member' who 'shot rival in nightclub' days before he was killed by police

Chris Kaba was accused of involvement in two shootings in the days before he was killed by a Met Police marksman, it can now be revealed.

The 24-year-old was described as a “core member” of the Brixton Hill-based ‘67 gang’, which is entrenched in London’s drill rap scene and linked to a series of violent attacks and murders.

On Monday, Met Police firearms officer Martyn Blake was found not guilty by a jury of murdering Kaba during a car stop in Streatham on September 5, 2022.

It can now be reported that Kaba was the prime suspect in a shooting five days earlier, when Brandon Malutshi was shot in both legs after attending the Oval Space nightclub in Hackney.

An Old Bailey trial heard how a gun was smuggled into the club in a bag, Kaba was seen “moving mad” around the dancefloor, and then he pulled out the firearm.

He shot at Mr Malutshi, the court heard, causing panic in the club and a bullet struck the intended victim in the left leg.

Mr Malutshi was able to flee the club, but was pursued into the street by the gunman and shot again in the right leg as he ran away.

Kaba was also found to have gunshot residue on his sleeve and a balaclava in his pocket on the night he was killed by Mr Blake, which it was suggested wasevidence he had been involved in a second shooting the previous night.

He had previous convictions for possession of weapons, and the Audi that he was driving when he was killed was linked to three previous firearms incidents in five months.

Mr Justice Goss agreed on Tuesday to lift restrictions on reporting Kaba’s past and criminal associations, after an order had been put in place to protect Mr Blake’s murder trial.

Mr Blake’s legal team had sought to introduce details of the shooting, as well as Kaba’s criminal background, into the murder trial as bad character, but the bid was blocked by the judge.

Shemiah Bell, 32, Marcus Pottinger, 31, and Connel Bamgboye, 29, were all convicted over the nightclub attack of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Bell was jailed in April for 10 years, Pottinger was sentenced to nine years and Bamgboye received a five years and six months prison term.

The court heard the shooting was part of a rivalry between the ‘67 gang’ and the ‘17 gang’ from the Wandsworth Road area, a group that Mr Malutshi was associated with.

Members of the ‘67’ collective were frontrunners in London’s emerging drill rap scene, and Kaba himself – using the aliases Madix and Mad Itch - was a rapper and central member of the group.

The gang has been linked to fatal attacks on Dwayne Simpson in 2015, and 18-year-old Cheyon Evans and 17-year-old Josiph Beker, both in 2019.

Kaba’s past convictions were also kept out of Mr Blake’s murder trial.

He had charges of burglary, affray and wounding on his rap sheet from his youth, and two years before his death, in August 2020, Kaba was caught with a lock knife in his car.

The charge came shortly after he had been set free from a four-year sentence in a young offender institution for possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

That conviction dated back to an incident in Butchers Road, Canning Town, at 3.25am on December 30, 2017, when gunshots were fired but no one was injured.

He had also been issued with a 28-day domestic violence protection order in April 2022, shortly before he died.

Mr Blake’s trial heard armed police were deployed after the car Kaba was driving was linked to a shooting the previous day.

Kaba was unarmed at the time, and Mr Blake was unaware of his identity and past crimes.

But his barrister Patrick Gibbs KC argued before the trial that Kaba’s gang background was relevant in the case.

A 2023 police report said the 67 gang is engaging in an “active and violent dispute with a rival faction of street gangs in Lambeth”, with ties to shootings, stabbings, and murders.

“67 gang and those affiliated to the group are embedded in a culture of drug supply, serious violence, firearms and knife possession”, it stated.

“It is my firm belief 67 have been and remain the highest harm street gang in Lambeth and that they continue to present serious risk to harm to those individuals and groups they are in opposition with or have had issues with.”

Mr Gibbs told the court Kaba would have been tried over the nightclub shooting if he had still been alive, and there is evidence - disputed by the prosecution - that suggests he had been involved in the second shooting the day before his death.

Blake was accused of opening fire while ‘angry’, but he told jurors he fired at the driver during a volatile car stop in order to protect other officers, fearing someone was about to be run over by Kaba’s vehicle as he tried to smash the Audi free.

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 Mr Kaba wanted to escape police.

Mr Gibbs said Mr Kaba had been intent on getting away “at any costs no matter the danger to another person”.

After the not guilty verdict in the murder trial, Kaba’s family said they are still battling “unimaginable grief” and said Blake’s acquittal “isn’t just a failure for our family, but for all those affected by police violence”.

They added: “Despite this verdict, we won’t be silenced. We are deeply grateful to everyone who stood by us and fought for justice. We will continue fighting for Chris, for justice, and for real change. Chris’ life mattered, and nothing can take that away from us.”

A protest led by the Black Lives Matter group was organised outside the Old Bailey on Monday evening, while the CPS defended the decision to charge Blake with murder.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said Mr Blake’s suspension has been lifted, and remarked that the officer has made “a huge personal and professional sacrifice” in the last two years.

He said the officer made “a split second decision on what he believed was necessary to protect his colleagues and to protect London”, and criticised the system used to hold police officers to account over fatal shootings.

“No police officer is above the law, but we have been clear that the system holding police to account is broken”, he said.

“I worry about the lack of support officers face for doing their best, but most of all, I worry for the public.

“The more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime that risks London becoming less safe.”

Officers within the Met’s firearms unit were in open revolt after Mr Blake was charged, with some refusing temporarily to go out on operations and there were fears the Army would have to be called in to plug the gaps.

“He should never have stood trial”, said Matt Cane, General Secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation.

“Our police officers must have confidence that they have the protection needed to do the difficult and dangerous jobs society expects of them. The Metropolitan Police Federation, and the officers we represent, remain astonished that a brave colleague could be charged with murder, doing the job that society expects of him.

“The ramifications of this case remain widespread; police officers should not have their livelihoods, and their liberty, put at risk for performing what unequivocally, in this case, was his lawful and appropriate function.”

In a final ruling in the Blake case, Mr Justice Goss ruled that a note sent by the jury moments before delivering their verdict should stay a secret.

Jude Bunting KC, representing a collection of media organisations, argued the note should be read in open court, after speculation about its contents emerged.

“Some people briefed the press that the jury were of the opinion this prosecution should never have been brought”, he said.

“Others speculated it was that the degree of force used by Mr Blake was too much, but that didn’t make it unlawful.

“Maybe the jury felt the law should change.

“All of these are proper matters for debate.”

He said public reporting of the note’s contents would tackle speculation head-on and dispel false information.

But the judge dismissed the application, and also refused to make comments about what the note did not contain.