BIRMINGHAM – A man and a teenager were due in court Sunday, police said, charged with the murder of three men hit by a car while defending their neighborhood against looters in Britain’s second city.
They are the first people to be charged over the deaths that occurred during Britain’s worst riots in decades that began in London last Saturday and spread to other major English cities.
Haroon Jahan, 20, Shazad Ali, 30, and his brother Abdul Musavir, 31, were killed early Wednesday by the entrance to a fuel station in the inner-city neighborhood of Winson Green in Birmingham, west central England.
Joshua Donald, 26, from nearby Ladywood and a 17-year-old male from Winson Green were charged Saturday with three counts of murder, West Midlands Police said. The police cannot name those aged under 18.
They were due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court at 9:00am (0800 GMT).
“Two people, aged 23 and 27, remain in custody,” WMP said. “A 16-year-old and 32-year-old have been bailed pending further enquiries.”
Police said earlier that they had recovered two cars in their investigation and had obtained 400 exhibits and more than 70 witness statements.
Jahan’s father Tariq has been praised for his emotional plea not to seek revenge for his son’s death.
Police acknowledged that his appeal lowered the temperature, amid fears for relations between Birmingham’s ethnic communities.
A total of 509 people have been arrested across the greater Birmingham conurbation following last week’s disorder, which also hit the West Midlands city of Wolverhampton and the town of West Bromwich.
Besides the three deaths in Birmingham, two other people died in the wave of urban unrest.
Trevor Ellis who was found shot in his car following rioting in Croydon, south London, on Monday. A 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Richard Bowes, a 68-year-old man, was attacked in Ealing, west London, on Monday. He died due to a head injury, a post mortem found. Police are holding a 22-year-old man on suspicion of murder.