A MAN gunned down in an alleyway in Birmingham may have been the innocent victim of gang fall-out, the Birmingham Mail has learned.

Nehemiah Bryce, 27, was parking his car in New Croft, Newtown, when he was ambushed and shot dead as he tried to flee two men who had waited in ambush, crouched between two cars.

No one has been charged with his murder, three years ago, and an inquest yesterday ruled that he had been unlawfully killed.

Police believe that Mr Bryce, who earned a living buying and selling cars, could have been the victim of mistaken identity.

Det Chief Insp Steve Bimson said they had uncovered rumours of a fall-out between two groups, that may have led to the shooting.

While Mr Bryce knew people linked to one of the groups he was not involved with them.

One possibility is that members of one of the groups were lying in wait for members of the other when Mr Bryce pulled into Rodway Close to park his black Seat Ibiza.

He was hit three times in the chest as he tried to escape the scene on foot after his car had been trapped by another vehicle. Police found nine bullets from two weapons at the scene.

Det Chief Insp Bimson said: “I don’t think he was targeted, it was the location that was targeted.

“On the night he was killed, he was going about his normal routine. His car had suffered some damage outside his home so he’d got in the habit of parking it there.

“He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He added: “My reading of the situation is that there has been a dispute between two criminal groups.