A childhood friend of Chris Kaba says he pleaded with him to turn his back on gangland crime just weeks before he was shot dead by a police officer.
Father-of-one Mr Kaba – a member of the notorious South London 67 gang – fired at a rival in Hackney, east London, on August 30 2022.
Six days later, the 24-year-old was shot dead by firearms Sergeant Martyn Blake, who was cleared last Monday of his murder.
Speaking to The Sun, Mr Kaba’s pal – who has remained anonymous – said that he had confronted him and other gang members about their involvement in crime just days before he died.
‘I asked, “When are you guys gonna change your life?”, he has now revealed.
A childhood friend of Chris Kaba (pictured) said he pleaded with him to turn his back on gangland crime just weeks before he was shot dead by a police officer
Chris Kaba (in blue) brazenly gunned down a rival in the middle of a Hackney nightclub during a bloody feud for control of a profitable county lines drug network on August 30 2022
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
But the response Mr Kaba’s concerned friend received was not what he had hoped.
He recalled: ‘I got told that “easy money is the best money – f*** doing a nine to five”.’
The unnamed friend had known Mr Kaba since he was 12, and revealed that the father-of-one had once wanted to be an architect.
The man was quoted as saying: ‘He got sucked into the gang world, but he probably allowed himself to get sucked in.’
‘As he got older it was like his ambitions for a proper career fizzled out, and he fell further into a life of crime.’
It comes after a judge ruled this week that details of Mr Kaba’s criminal past could be publicly revealed – including the fact he would have been charged with attempted murder over the Hackney shooting had he lived.
Neither his gang history nor criminal record was revealed in Sergeant Blake’s trial after a senior judge ruled it had no bearing on the issues for jurors to decide.
But after Blake, 40, was found not guilty of his murder last Monday, Mr Justice Goss ruled details from two high-profile Old Bailey trials could finally be aired in public.
Chris Kaba was one of London’s most feared gangsters with a shocking history of violence
Footage from bodyworn police cameras showed the moment 24-year-old Chris Kaba’s car was surrounded by armed police in Streatham, south London, on September 5 2022
CCTV footage captured the aftermath of Chris Kaba’s shooting attack on gang rival Brandon Malutshi, in Hackney, east London, six days before he himself was fired on by police
It could be revealed that the Audi Q8 the father-of-one was driving when he was shot had been linked to three previous gun incidents in 2022.
CCTV footage allegedly captured the moment Mr Kaba opened fire at the Oval Space in August that year, and Mr Blake’s defence said there was ‘strong evidence’ he was also involved in a Brixton shooting the night before his death.
The first shotgun incident to which the Audi was linked was on May 22 2022 in Bromley, south London.
It involved the same type of gun used in a shooting on September 4 and was still outstanding when Mr Kaba was killed, the court heard in the absence of the jury.
Early on August 30 2022, Mr Kaba had targeted a rival at the Oval Space club, an earlier Old Bailey trial heard.
Kaba and other 67 associates had been at a party in the nightclub when he spotted 25-year-old Brandon Malutshi who was associated with the rival ’17 gang and fired at his victim, who later discharged himself from hospital.