Schoolboy ‘shot dead outside home by gunman, 14,’ in ‘attack by machete-wielding teens’

Five teens – aged between 14 and 18 – are accused of knifing Birmingham schoolboy Keon Lincoln, 15, eight times and shooting him twice during a 30-second frenzied attack in January

A schoolboy was shot dead outside his home by a 14-year-old gunman during an attack by a masked group also armed with machetes, a court has heard.

Keon Lincoln, 15, was stabbed eight times and shot twice during the 30-second onslaught that was filmed on CCTV.

Five teenagers, aged between 14 and 18, are accused of murdering Keon in the planned attack in Birmingham on January 21.

Opening the case prosecutor Michael Burrows QC told Birmingham Crown Court: “The CCTV shows one of the individuals had a gun and shot at Keon Lincoln twice.

“One of the shots hit Keon Lincoln in the stomach and caused fatal injuries.”

Mr Burrows added: “The prosecution say the gunman was … and is 14 years old.”

The boy, from Birmingham and a 16-year-old from Walsall, cannot be named because of their ages.

They deny murder along with Kieron Donaldson, 18, Tahjgeem Breakenridge, 18, and Michael Ugochukwu, 18, all from Birmingham.

The prosecutor said the CCTV footage showed the other attackers were armed with large knives, with which Keon was stabbed repeatedly.

Donaldson, the court heard, is not alleged to have been present at the scene of the attack but to have “helped and supplied weapons”.

The “short and brutal” attack in Linwood Road, Handsworth, lasted about 30 seconds, Mr Burrows told the court, continuing even after Keon tried to get up and run away.

Mr Burrows told the jury: “He (Keon) was shot at whilst he was on the ground. Still, the group continued to attack him, stabbing and hacking at him with large knives.”

The gang then escaped in a stolen Ford with false plates which later crashed in Wheeler Street, Birmingham, where forensic evidence including a hunting knife was recovered, the court heard.

Donaldson had allegedly bought 10 hunting knives, two survival knives and two machetes between October 2020 and January this year and then supplied them to others.

Mr Burrows said the prosecution could not say what the precise motive for the attack was, before telling the court: “Plainly, it’s obvious this attack was planned. The attackers were out together armed with weapons.

“In the case of (the 14-year-old), he was armed with a gun loaded with ammunition.

“In short, the prosecution say, when you consider all the evidence from the CCTV and phone records, it is clear that these defendants are those shown in the CCTV, and that they were all involved in the murder of Keon Lincoln.”

As well as the murder charge, the 14-year-old defendant denies possessing a handgun with intent to endanger life in the street where Keon was fatally wounded.

Breakenridge, Ugochukwu and the 16-year-old also deny unlawful possession of a knife.

The trial continues.