Two remain in custody on suspicion of murdering Birmingham teenager

Two remain in custody on suspicion of murdering Birmingham teenager  

Mercury
Sunday, May 29, 2011

TWO men last night remained in custody on suspicion of murder after a Birmingham teenager was shot in the head.

Mohammed Abdi Farah, 19, and his friend Amin Ahmed Ismail, 18, died after being shot as they fled down an alleyway in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire on Thursday night.

The pair were chased into the path of the waiting killer, who coldly blasted both in the head with a 9mm handgun.

He first shot Mr Farah at point-blank range before firing at Mr Ismail, who collapsed on top of his friend's body.

Mohammed died at the scene. Amin, who had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, hung on but lost his battle for life after being taken to Milton Keynes Hospital.

The men being quizzed by cops, aged 33 and 21, were arrested on Friday night by armed officers from Thames Valley Police.

A 13-year-old boy, also arrested on Friday, has been released on police bail until the middle of June, a force spokesman said.

Mohammed's uncle, Rashid Hirad, last night revealed that his nephew had been in hiding for the last few weeks.

He said Mohammed had been beaten up repeatedly, and that his mother had moved to Birmingham in an attempt to avoid the trouble – but he kept returning to Milton Keynes to visit friends.

Mr Hirad said: "Mohammed's mother decided to move from Milton Keynes to Birmingham because she wanted to run away from these people – but she couldn't. All the time he was coming back to Milton Keynes to visit friends and at last it happened."

The two adult suspects were arrested late on Friday and remain in police custody, Thames Valley Police said.

Detective Superintendent Rob Mason, who is leading the police probe, said: "Although we have made a number of arrests, I am keen to stress that we are still in the very early stages of the investigation.

"I would continue to urge anyone with information about the incident to contact police as a matter of urgency.

"We have made significant progress this afternoon and we are continuing to follow up on a number of leads. I would like to emphasise that this is still very much a live investigation."

Both victims were known to police for low-level incidents and friends of the pair said that they were killed after being chased in a gangland mix-up. Detectives, however, have ruled out the killings being gang-related at this stage.

Police have placed two videos, one in English and one in Somali, on YouTube to appeal for witnesses to the shooting.