The moment Chris Kaba tried to shoot a gang rival in a nightclub shooting just days before he was killed by Met Police sharpshooter Martyn Blake

This is the moment Chris Kaba opened fire on a rival in an east London nightclub just six days before he was shot dead by a police officer.

The 24-year-old rapper targeted a rival of his ’67 gang’ at the Oval Space club in Hackney in early August 2022, an earlier Old Bailey trial heard.

Kaba would have faced trial for the shooting had he not been killed in Streatham on September 5, 2022, at the hands of firearms officer Sergeant Martyn Blake.

Neither Mr Kaba’s gang history nor criminal history was disclosed during Sergeant Blake’s trial, after a senior judge ruled it had no bearing on the issues before the jury.

Allegations that Mr Kaba was directly linked to two shootings in the six days before his death can now be reported after Judge Goss lifted a ban on reporting such shootings.

A senior judge rejected a request by Kaba’s mother, Helen Lumuanganu, for her son’s gang activities to remain secret until an investigation that could take years is completed.

But after Blake, 40, was found not guilty of murder yesterday, Judge Goss ruled that details of two high-profile trials at the Old Bailey can finally be made public.

The Audi Q8 the father-of-one was driving when he was shot has been linked to three previous gun incidents in 2022, it can be revealed.

CCTV footage allegedly captured the moment Kaba opened fire at the Oval Space in August of the same year, and Blake’s defense said there was “strong evidence” he was also involved in the Brixton shooting on the night preceding his death.

The first shooting incident to which Audi was linked occurred on May 22, 2022, in Bromley, south London.

The incident occurred with the same type of weapon used in the Sept. 4 shooting, and the verdict was still outstanding when Mr. Kaba was killed, the court heard in the absence of the jury.

According to an earlier trial at the Old Bailey, in the early morning hours of August 30, 2022, Kaba targeted rival club Oval Space.

Kaba and other 67 associates were at a nightclub party when they spotted 25-year-old Brandon Malutshi, associated with the rival “17” gang.

Kaba was said to “go into a frenzy” before pulling out a gun and shooting at Mr Malutshi, causing panic on the dance floor.

Dressed in a gray tracksuit, he then chased the victim into the street, brandishing a gun and shooting as Malutshi tried to flee, it was alleged.

Several shots were fired before Mr Malutshi fell with gunshot wounds to both legs.

He was taken to hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Mr Kaba was identified in CCTV footage of the shooting recorded inside and outside the club.

The weapon, which was not recovered, was smuggled into the club by Marcus Pottinger, who previously worked there, and managed to avoid security checks.

Mr Kaba drove to Hackney in an Audi but fled in a Range Rover.

The Audi was picked up by Shemiah Bell, who parked it in front of his house so Mr. Kaba could pick it up in the morning.

Following an earlier trial at the Old Bailey, Pottinger, 31, and Bell, 32, were found guilty of causing hurt with intent.

They and 29-year-old Connel Bamgboye were found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

In April, Judge Simon Mayo KC sentenced Bell to 10 years, Pottinger to nine years and Bamgboye to five years and six months.

Sentencing, Judge Mayo told the defendants: “Shortly after 4am on August 30, 2022, Chris Kaba shot Brandon Malutshi twice in the leg – once on the dance floor of The Oval Space nightclub in Hackney and once on Hackney Road as Malutshi tried to escape.

“Upon entering the venue, Kaba and the rest of your group gathered at the bar. Kaba and Bamgboye were wearing balaclavas.

“It is clear that at some point Kaba spotted Brandon Malutshi, a man who the prosecution says was linked to the Wandsworth gang known as ’17’.

“It has been confirmed that Kaba was a key member of a rival Brixton gang known as ’67’. It was also agreed that Bell and Bamgboye were associated with the same gang.

Although Mr. Kaba was named in the charges and at trial as a co-conspirator, his identity could not be revealed until after Mr. Blake’s trial.

Defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs KC asked – unsuccessfully – for the jury in Mr. Blake’s murder trial to hear about Mr. Kaba’s history of violence.

However, the jury was only told about a third shooting incident, which the Audi was involved in outside a primary school in Brixton the night before Mr Kaba was shot dead by Blake during a forced arrest and extraction in Streatham.

Three hooded figures took aim at the two unidentified victims and fired a shotgun before they fled in the Audi and another vehicle.

When the Audi was spotted and followed by armed police in south London on September 5, no suspects, no gun or victims were found.

Gibbs suggested that Kaba may have been one of the hooded attackers in the Brixton shooting.

After shooting the unarmed Mr. Kaba, a balaclava was found in his pocket and gunshot residue was found on his sleeve.

He said: “The Crown says there is no evidence that Kaba was one of the gunmen on September 4.

“In my opinion, there is strong evidence to show that he was a completely independent man, regardless of his connections with Audi on 30 (August) and that night on 5 (September).”

He pointed to suspicious phone records from the Brixton shooting and said: “It’s not definitive, but I don’t think it’s nonsense.”

Knowing what Kaba had done a few days earlier explained why he was so determined to escape “at all costs, regardless of the danger to another person,” Gibbs said.

He said: “If anyone asks what did Mr. Kaba know he had done? How did Mr. Kaba know the police would be after him before cars blocked him to arrest him on September 5, which must really be a testament to why he did what he did.

He added: “If he were alive, he would be tried in this court for attempted murder for days and weeks.”

Gibbs also said that a few days later, on September 14, cleaners found a gun in trash cans at the premises shortly before the police stopped him.

However, there were doubts whether it could have been thrown out the window as Mr Kaba turned off the South Circular.

During the legal hearing, it emerged that Kaba and Bamgboye were convicted in 2015 for their involvement in a nine-person brawl.

In August 2020, Kaba was sentenced to five months in prison for possessing a knife and failing to stop.

He previously served a four-year prison sentence for possessing an imitation firearm, for which he was convicted in December 2017.

At the time of his death, an application for a gang injunction against Mr Kaba was also being considered, the court said.