A teenage gunman is caught showing off with a gun in mobile phone footage, before armed officers raided his home and arrested him.
Ashirie Smith is shown dancing and posing with the weapon in footage we recovered from his phone after his arrest.
Officers received intelligence that Smith, then 17, may have been keeping a firearm at his house in Brays Road in Handsworth.
Our firearms officers raided his house in November last year and the gun, a Walther pistol loaded with five 9mm bullets.
Smith, now 18, was arrested and has now admitted possession of a firearm and ammunition.
At Birmingham Crown Court yesterday (18 April) he was jailed for three years.
The investigation was part of Operation Target – our combined region-wide mission to tackle serious and organised crime.
DC James Cox, from the Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands, said: “Ashirie Smith is well known to police, and has links to gangs and criminality in Birmingham.
“The videos we recovered from his phone after his arrest show just how much he relished in that lifestyle, and it’s believed he filmed them to boast to friends and associates about his access to firearms.
“That criminal lifestyle has resulted in our officers forcing their way into his home in the middle of the night and him being arrested at gunpoint.
“I’d urge anyone tempted by that lifestyle to pause and think of the implications for them and their loved ones.
“We are absolutely committed to tackling gun crime in the West Midlands, and those involved in it can expect arrest, conviction and jail.”
Gun crime has fallen in the West Midlands. Last year, shootings in the West Midlands fell by more than a quarter, from 126 to 92.
Over the same time period, the number of guns we recovered rose by 25 per cent, from 121 to 152.
We know the damage it causes to families and whole communities.
If you’ve got information on people involved in gun crime, get in touch. You can speak to us via Live Chat or 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
