Shooting in gangland area of Birmingham

Sep 7 2008

A FATHER-of-four was recovering in hospital last night after another shooting in one of Birmingham’s most notorious gang areas.

The 25-year-old victim, named locally as Obryon Davison, was blasted in the back after six thugs burst into a house in the Newtown area of the city and opened fire.

The gun attack, which happened at around 10pm on Friday night, comes after a string of tit-for-tat shootings between the Burger Bar Boys and their rivals the Johnson Crew.

Cops last night appealed for witnesses to the shooting.

But they claimed it was too early to say if the attack was linked to recent gang violence across the city - which has claimed three lives in less than a month.

Friday night’s shooting happpened in Sunridge Avenue, in the heart of the Burger Bar Boys’ gang territory.

A street sign near the house where the shooting took place is daubed with gang tags and has B19 scrawled across it.

Both are used by members of the Burger Bar Boys to identify themselves.

A relative of the friends Mr Davison was visiting when he was shot told the Sunday Mercury he had been asleep upstairs when the gunmen forced their way into his home.

He said Mr Davison was visiting his friends in the small cul-de-sac when the group of armed thugs burst in.

As he fled, they shot him in the back and left him for dead.

“It was a gang of six lads who just burst into the house,” he said.

“I was upstairs, but I heard a lot of shouting and then gunshots.

“He basically ran out of the house to escape from these guys, but they followed him out and shot him in the back.

“Obryon is a good man, he’s a father-of-four and a friend of my nephew. He was studying at college to get a new career before this happened.”

Friday’s attack happened less than a mile from the spot where 24-year-old Dimitri Foskin was gunned down and killed a fortnight ago.

In March this year Nehemiah Bryce, 27, from Winson Green, was murdered by gunmen in Rodway Close, Newtown, which is just yards from the scene of this weekend’s shooting.

Last night community insiders warned that the street battle between Birmingham’s two most infamous gangs was escalating.

“This is a war and there is no end in sight,” a source told the Sunday Mercury.

“It’s territorial, it’s nasty and it’s going to get worse.

“The gangs have been set loose by their leaders now, and the younger members of the Johnsons and the Burgers are taking revenge on each other.

“If you are hanging around with the wrong people, or even if you are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, then you’re going to get hurt.”

Cops cordoned off the entrance to Sunridge Avenue yesterday as they quizzed neighbours and combed the scene for clues in the shooting of Mr Davison.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said last night: “Police were called at 10.02pm on Friday to an address in the Newtown area to reports of shots being fired.

“A man, aged 25, was taken to hospital with gunshot wounds to the back. His condition is described as serious, but not believed to be life threatening.

“Our inquiries are ongoing.”

Anyone with information should contact the force on 08451135000.