A police investigation which saw a gunman identified, apprehended and charged less than 72 hours after he carried out a near fatal shooting has seen a man jailed today, Thursday, 13 July.
Shea Williams, 31 (25.02.92) of Cedar Road, NW2 appeared at Isleworth Crown Court where he was sentenced to 31 years in jail for attempted murder after being found guilty at a trial at the same venue in April.
He was also sentenced to 13 years for possession of firearm with intent to endanger life, 39 months for possession of ammunition and 45 months for two counts of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, all to run concurrently.
Detective Constable Jonny Wise, who led the investigation, said: “Williams is one of London’s most dangerous criminals who has shown no remorse nor ever accepted his guilt throughout proceedings.
“He brought a loaded firearm to a party before chasing and shooting a defenceless man multiple times. As the victim lay injured in the road, Williams closed in to virtually point blank range of the victim and shot him several more times, intending to kill him.
“A motive for the shooting has never been established. It is by sheer luck that the victim survived his injuries.
“As this case illustrates, we are committed to tackling serious violence and removing lethal barrelled weapons from the hands of organised criminals.”
At around 07:30hrs on Saturday, 30 October 2021, Williams and two other men chased a 30 year-old man out of a Halloween silent disco at an address on Hillfield Avenue, Wembley. As they ran, he produced a self-loading handgun and shot the victim a number of times.
As the victim lay critically injured in the road, the group ran off and got into two separate cars before making off from the scene.
An investigation was launched by the Met’s Trident shootings team who quickly found that part of the attack had been captured on a doorbell camera. However, it was too far away to identify the suspects.
A small team of detectives worked around the clock recovering and examining CCTV. This allowed them to trace the suspect parking his car, arriving at the party and staying for a few hours before carrying out the attack.
The registration of the vehicle could not be made out but the CCTV did capture a traffic warden issuing a ticket to the car for illegally parking on the pavement around ten minutes before the shooting.
This was the breakthrough the team needed – the warden had captured the number plates on his body camera, meaning the team could trace who owned the vehicles. This led them to Williams and within 72 hours of the incident he had been identified, apprehended and charged.
With Williams in custody, detectives began gathering further evidence which would ultimately lead to his conviction.
Mobile phone enquiries as well as the car’s GPS and ANPR data placed him travelling to and from the area at the relevant times.
Williams’ car was also seized and inside officers found a sophisticated hide, which could only be opened by sliding the mirror and pressing the fog lights. Inside, officers found a quantity of drugs.
Further forensic examination of the vehicle also found gunshot residue was present in the hide itself.
The victim in the case sustained seven gunshot wounds and was rushed to hospital in a critical condition. He underwent emergency surgery and has since recovered, but has been left with life changing injuries.
Two other men were acquitted of attempted murder at the same trial.
