A thug who fired a shotgun at a shopper in an Aldi supermarket car park in Burnage because he had been shown ‘disrespect’, has been jailed for eight years.
Dad-of-one Jumaane Bruce, 22, was loitering around an off-licence when he got into an argument with two men who had asked him ‘what are you staring at?’
He drove off in a car with two friends but they returned to the scene just six minutes later in their vehicle to confront the victims.
Bruce, now wearing a balaclava and wielding a lethal .410 single-barrelled shotgun, was captured on CCTV sprinting across the nearby Aldi car park in Burnage, Manchester, towards the victims.
As dozens of parents and children began to flee the scene on the sunny evening of May 31 last year, Bruce sent the men ‘running for their lives’ as one woman was heard to shout: “He’s got a gun!”
One victim fell in front of a nearby car, and another was so scared he tried to climb into the driver’s side of a vehicle while a woman was still inside.
Bruce closed in on the man and the car’s innocent, petrified driver, who thought she ‘was going to die’, Manchester Crown Court heard.
From almost point-blank range, he fired the shotgun towards the floor, damaging the rim of the car before he escaped in the Vauxhall Astra still being held in wait by his two accomplices.
No-one was injured in the incident. But the court heard that it was said that because of his close proximity ‘if he had wanted to shoot someone, he would have done’.
After admitting possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear and violence and possession of a firearm when prohibited, he was jailed for eight years yesterday.
Prosecuting, Michael Lavery said one woman had been into the Aldi store at around 8pm and was sitting in her car talking to some men when she became embroiled in the incident.
“That first man came running for his life, as she described it, past her car but falling in front of it,” he said. “She turned to see people running and screaming but most importantly, a man with a gun, black balaclava and black gloves.
“The gun is described as long and black, being carried in both hands with one to the front and one to the rear. At that point the man she had been talking to tried to climb into the driver’s seat with her and the man with the gun was about half a metre away with the gun held in front of him.
“She said words like ‘don’t shoot me’ but then heard a loud bang and saw the man was pointing the gun into her car from a metre away. She thought she was going to die.
“She realised the man who had sat on her was gone and she got her wits about her and drove away.”
When she was traced by police and her car examined, it was found to have shotgun residue on the seat which matched Bruce’s gun, and holes and dints in the metal.
In his defence, Nicholas Clarke QC, said Bruce clearly had issues with his reaction when he is shown disrespect, which is ‘out of all proportion’.
He later told probation services that he became angry when one of the men in the off-licence asked him ‘what are you staring at?’
On April 30 2013, Bruce was in a prison van which was ambushed by an armed gang in Salford, leading to the escape of prisoners Ryan MacDonald and Stevie McMullen, the court was told. In that incident Bruce refused to flee the ambushed van.
Jailing him, Judge Patrick Field QC said: “You can’t have arguments settled outside an Aldi in Burnage with a shootout. This may send out a message to others who want to settle their disputes with a gun battle.
“In the course of the confrontation with the two men you detected an element of disrespect and became angry and it appears from the pre-sentence report that you were offended by somebody saying ‘what are you staring at?’
“Your response to that wasn’t to shrug your shoulders, exercise self-control, think no more about it and move on. No, you, Jumaane Bruce, left the scene, armed yourself with a lethal firearm that was loaded and put on a balaclava to hide your identity before returning to the scene. You weren’t away for long so it is clear you knew exactly where to find the shotgun.
“You have charged back to the scene and then chased the men who upset you so gravely by saying ‘what are you staring at?’
“It is easy to imagine the fear the innocent driver must have felt confronted by an angry young man in a balaclava, armed with a firearm and shooting it apparently with intent. It is clear to me that many others at the scene were scared for their own safety and to hear stories of young children in tears illustrates that.
“You have something of a trigger temper. I have no hesitation whatsoever in finding you to be a dangerous young man.”
After the case, Bruce’s mother said: “He’s not perfect. But he’s got a lovely side and a kind heart.”
Story via Cavendish Press.
