Teenagers shot man playing football in face then went to chicken shop

'This was a callous and shocking assassination of a decent young man,’ detective inspector says

Two people who shot a young man playing football in the face then went to eat chicken have been found guilty of murder.

James Teer was killed at point-blank range in a Birmingham suburb after being called over to a car stolen by Ty Blake and Sharn Miles.

The two men, both teenagers at the time of the attack, were spotted eating chicken and chips in a fast-food restaurant shortly after the killing.

Both 19-year-old Blake, who pulled the trigger, and 20-year-old Miles, who was driving, were convicted of murder at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.

“They purchased food and consumed it within 30 minutes of James’s death, showing no signs of emotion,” Detective Chief Inspector Scott Griffiths from West Midlands Police said. “They were absolutely callous in relation as to how they carried out this attack.”

He said the young men targeted Teer in relation to a fight Miles had in a Birmingham nightclub around a week before.

“Mr Teer was not directly involved in that, very much on the periphery, but it appears Miles and Blake were intent on causing serious harm to anyone linked to the group,” he said.

“Sadly, James was the first person they came across on the day.”

Teer was playing football with friends in Goosemoor Lane in Erdington when he was called over by the men in the car on the evening of 8 August last year.

The 20-year-old victim, who had just returned from the gym, went to the driver’s seat window where Blake, sitting in the passenger seat, pulled the trigger.

Miles and Blake, both from Birmingham, left their victim lying in the street and got rid of the gun before heading to a chicken shop.

“It is so hard to understand that somebody could react in such a plain way after causing such injuries to another person,” said Mr Griffiths.

“This was a callous and shocking assassination of a decent young man.”

At their trial, both men accepted being in the car during the shooting, but accused each other of pulling the trigger.

Blake and Miles were unanimously convicted of murder on Wednesday, with Blake also found guilty of theft and burglary relating to the stolen car used in the drive-by shooting.

A third defendant, 20-year-old Lauren Malin of Community Close, Coventry, was cleared of murder but convicted for burglary.

Miles, of Gowan Road, Alum Rock, Birmingham, briefly bowed his head as he was found guilty of murder, while Blake, of Shustoke Road, Shard End, pursed his lips and stared at the judge.

All three defendants will be sentenced on Thursday.

Additional reporting by Press Association