A judge issued a chilling warning to Chris Kaba about his future three years before he was shot by a Met Police marksman.
Mr Kaba was shot dead by firearms officer Martyn Blake on September 5, 2022 following a police chase which saw him try to flee in an Audi Q8.
The fatal incident happened after armed police started tailing the vehicle, which had been used as a getaway car in a gang-related shooting the night before in Brixton, South London.
But this wasn’t the first time the 24-year-old had been involved in a shooting as just three years earlier, Kaba was handed a four year jail sentence for possession of a firearm back in 2017.
During the 2019 sentencing hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Kaba was reportedly told him he would ‘end up dead’ if he continued on his current trajectory
Chris Kaba was shot through the windscreen of a car in South London on September 5, 2022
Mr Kaba (pictured) was a leading member of the 67 gang, which police consider the most dangerous gang in South London
Chris Kaba’s rap name was ‘Mad Itch’ or ‘Itch’ and he released drill rap songs bragging about gunning down rivals and selling drugs. A still from one of his videos is pictured above, for the song Numerous Times
According to the Mirror, the judge told him: ‘I hope you understand how serious this is. It is completely unacceptable behaviour.
‘You have to understand that, or you will spend the rest of your life in and out of prison or you will end up dead or maimed yourself if you keep mixing with people who get involved with firearms. I hope you understand that.’
But Mr Kaba failed to heed his warning as he was back on the streets within a year after being released early on licence.
In August 2020, Mr Kaba was jailed again for possession of a knife and failing to stop for police.
Mr Kaba was a leading member of the 67 gang, which police consider the most dangerous gang in South London.
Nicknamed ‘Mad Itch’, Mr Kaba had a shocking history of violence, with convictions dating back to the age of 13 for affray, knifes and weapons possession relating to several shootings.
Chris Kaba was one of London’s most feared gangsters with a shocking history of violence
Armed police had started tailing the vehicle that Mr Kaba was driving because the Audi Q8 had been used as a getaway car
Mr Kaba’s associates, Shemiah Bell (left) and Marcus Pottinger (centre), both 31, were found guilty of wounding with intent in February while Connel Bamgboye (right), 29, was convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence
Jurors were told merely that the victim was an expectant father.
But even that carefully constructed image crumbled in legal argument behind closed doors when it emerged that he had been barred from contacting the mother of his unborn child under a domestic violence protection order.
So entangled was he in the perpetual bloodshed of London’s gang wars that the night Mr Kaba was killed was not even the first time he had been shot.
He was first struck by a bullet during a clash between two rival groups in 2014.
Mr Kaba revelled in the violence, releasing drill rap songs bragging about gunning down rivals and selling drugs.
In 2017 Mr Kaba and his Mobo-nominated ’67 rap group’ were hosted by former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood for a studio ‘crib session’ after he released a single bragging about travelling with ‘the shotty’, said to be a reference to blasting someone in the face with a shotgun.
A grab from footage issued by the CPS of the initial follow of the Audi driven by Chris Kaba
Photographs on social media show Mr Kaba making various gun gestures and taking aim at the camera as if he had a shotgun in hand.
Just five months later Mr Kaba was caught up in a shooting in Canning Town in December 2017, which led to a four year jail sentence for possession of a firearm.
But he was back on the streets within a year after being relased early on licence.
In August 2020, Mr Kaba was jailed again for possession of a knife and failing to stop for police.
Mr Gibbs described his notorious 67 clan as the ‘most dangerous gang in south London.’
A Met Police report in 2023 revealed 67’s turf warfare had ‘encompassed numerous firearms discharges, stabbings and murders’ which have ‘played out in gang related musical content since 2014.’
Described as ‘the highest harm street gang in Lambeth’, members were said to be ’embedded in a culture of drug supply, serious violence firearms and knife possession’ whose ‘brand and status depends on advertising their violent exploits in the form of shootings or stabbings’.
Temi Mawale, Kayza Rose, Sheeda Queen with Chris Kaba’s family at the Old Bailey last night
People demonstrate outside the Old Bailey in London last night after the not guilty verdict
Then just six days before his death, Mr Kaba brazenly gunned down a rival in the middle of a crowded nightclub during a bloody feud for control of a profitable county lines drug network.
In a shocking attack captured on CCTV, the gangster started blasting at Brandon Malutshi chasing him outside the Oval Space Club in Hackney, with one of the bullets hitting him in the leg.
Had he not been killed, Mr Kaba would have stood trial at the Old Bailey for the attempted murder of Mr Malutshi who miraculously survived the nightclub shooting on August 30, 2022.
His accomplices were later convicted for their role in the shooting during a trial effectively held in secret to avoid any prejudice to jurors in the Blake case.
CCTV footage showed Mr Kaba spotting his rival at the club on the evening of August 30, 2022, before grabbing a bag from a friend, pulling on a single black glove then covering his face.
Chris Kaba is seen sat inside an Audi Q8 in Streatham, South London, on September 5, 2022
The police bodycam footage from multiple angles shows chaotic scenes as Mr Kaba was shot
Mr Kaba’s vehicle was hemmed in by marked and unmarked police cars during the incident
A shot is heard in the video before someone shouts ‘right we’ve got shots fired, shots fired’
He then snatched the pistol from the bag and fired across the dancefloor at Malutshi, who sprinted away.
Mr Kaba chased him and fired a volley of bullets at his target, hitting him in the leg just below the buttock.
Mr Malutshi, a member of the ’17’ gang was flown by air ambulance to the Royal London Hospital and survived the shooting, eventually discharging himself against medical advice with a small bullet fragment still in his right leg.
Mr Kaba’s associates, Shemiah Bell and Marcus Pottinger, both 31, were found guilty of wounding with intent in February while Connel Bamgboye, 29, was convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
But it was Mr Kaba who had pulled the trigger as part of a vicious war for control over a ‘county lines’ drug dealing network which raged between the two gangs.
The footage shows armed officers running towards Mr Kaba’s car which was hemmed in
The family of Mr Kaba had sought to extend reporting restrictions to prevent any mention of his criminal past until a future inquest, which could take years.
But Scotland Yard warned there could be potential unrest if the public were not told the full truth.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: ‘It is the Metropolitan police’s assessment that the open and transparent disclosure of Mr Kaba’s character at the conclusion of the … trial will significantly reduce the risk of unrest on London’s streets and help keep the public safe.’
He said that in the London borough of Lambeth, where the 67 gang is based, trust in police among the black community was low, adding there was a danger of giving the local community a ‘misleading impression’ about who Kaba was and that ‘there would be the clear potential for emotions to tip into disorder’.
It emerged in a pre-trial hearing that ‘those linked to the 67 Gang were seeking to kill a police officer in retribution for Mr Kaba’s death’.
Mr Gibbs cited an intelligence report revealing: ‘The sum of money on offer was £10,000….in exchange for personal details of Martyn Blake including addresses and vehicle registration marks.
‘The threat of harm was directed at both Mr Blake and his family’.
Chris Kaba’s parents Helen Lumuanganu and Prosper Kaba at the Old Bailey on October 15
The report concluded that ‘the likelihood of consequences following the identification of the officer is very high. The threat to the officer and their family in the event they are identified is very high.’
Superintendent Ross McKibbin, head of Counter Terrorism in the Met said: ‘In nearly 30 years of service, I have never been more concerned about the welfare of an officer or the likelihood of them or their family coming to serious harm as I am about Martyn Blake in this case.’
The threat of a revenge attack remains so high that Blake has had his leave his home, career and normal life behind as he faces a lifetime under threat with close protection officers guarding his every move.
Today a firearms officer, who was at the scene of the fatal police shooting, said it was wrong to prosecute Mr Blake arguing ‘at no point was there any evidence that (he) had done anything wrong’.