A gang member who was wearing a “scary clown mask” and brandished a shotgun at police officers from a stolen BMW has been sentenced to 23 years in jail.
Drill rapper Lekan Akinsoji, also know as CB, and three other young men were all found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
They were each jailed by Judge Mark Dennis QC to 23 years plus three years on extended licence.
Akinsoji, 21 was wearing the mask as he leant out of a passenger seat of a stolen BMW when he was caught on camera by pursuing officers from the Met’s firearms unit on July 26 last year, the Old Bailey heard.
The gang went on a “ride out” to target rivals in east London before police pursued them over speed bumps at speeds up to 60mph.
Officers opened fire on the car after they believed the gang were pointing guns at them.
In dramatic dash-cam footage played in court, an officer could be heard shouting: “Gun. Gun. They’ve got a gun. They are pointing a long barrelled weapon at us.”
Officers, including one who described the white mask as like a scene from the film Heat, said they believed their lives were in danger, jurors were told.
The chase came to an end when the BMW was driven the wrong way down a one-way street in Leytonstone.
Akinsoji emerged from the car wearing the clown mask after the chase came to an end because the gang turned down a one way street.
A loaded shotgun was found in the car and cartridges were discovered on the ground nearby. Later testing showed the gun had not been fired on the night.
Akinsoji was linked to the Woodgrange or “E7” gang from Forest Gate, east London, the court heard.
He was on trial alongside Nathaniel Lewis, 23, Darnell Joseph-Newill, 21, and Troy Ifill, 22, who were also said to be associated with east London gangs. The group had formed an alliance under the name “Northside Newham”.
All four men had produced a number of “drill” music videos, including videos bragging about gang activity and serious criminal acts.
Afterwards, police seized an arsenal of weapons, including an axe and a “zombie” knife from the stolen car.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard QC said the arsenal of weapons found in the stolen car suggested “their obvious intention that night”.
Orchard told jurors: “The police driver, understandably, thought the lives of himself and his colleagues were in danger.
“Having assessed the situation, and as he drove, the police driver fired four shots through the front windscreen of his police vehicle in the direction of the gunman.
“He had been trained to shoot like this. In fact, the shots missed.”
The jury took a day and a half to find them all guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.
All of the men on trial denied the charges. Akinsoji was cleared of attempting to use a firearm to resist arrest.
A fifth man who drove the car sprinted away from the BMW and was not arrested, the court heard.