British police released footage showing the final moments of student Aya Hisham's life before she was accidentally shot and killed over a year ago. The murder occurred in the Blackburn area of Lancashire, northern England, on May 17, 2020.
The video, captured by several surveillance cameras from a tire and wash shop, depicts law student Aya Hisham (19 years old) passing by the store, which is close to her home. Meanwhile, a vehicle approached the scene containing armed individuals who fired shots at the shop owner, but the bullets struck the Muslim student.
A British court convicted seven men for the murder of the student, while another woman involved in the incident was found guilty of manslaughter. The background of the crime stemmed from a longstanding feud between two tire shop owners. The dispute began with competition that quickly escalated into animosity, prompting one tire shop owner, Fayroz Suleiman, and his friend Ayaz Hussain, to hire a hitman to eliminate the rival shop owner, Pacha Khan.
The hitman carried out the crime with accomplices, and unfortunately for Aya, she was passing by at the time, resulting in her being shot due to the hitman's poor aim. Aya fell to the ground, and bystanders immediately attempted to assist her, but she succumbed to her injuries on the spot.
Prosecutor Alan Richardson stated that all those convicted in the case were, in their own way, responsible for the "foolish murder of Aya Hisham, the innocent young woman full of hope who lost her life due to trivial business competition." He added that the guilty parties showed a blatant disregard for people's lives while attempting to carry out the assassination, and even when the plot failed, they refused to show any remorse and denied involvement in the crime.
