Gunman who shot dead best friend while ‘messing about’ with gun facing jail

A gunman who shot dead his best friend while ‘messing around’ with a gun in a Coventry flat is facing jail.

Armed police were called just after 1am on 7 December last year to reports that a man had been shot in the head at the property on Chepstow Close, Willenhall.

They found Addison Packeer, aged 27, lying in a pool of blood on a settee in the living room.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, and Jordan Bassett, aged 25, was quickly identified as the killer.

Police launched a search for him but he handed himself in at Little Park Street police station early on 10 December, saying that he wanted to confess but that it had been an accident.

He told officers that the gun had belonged to the victim, who had told him that it was not loaded.

Bassett, of Tintagel Close, Willenhall, had been messing about with it when it went off.

Panicking, he tried to stem the flow of blood before riding his motorbike to a quarry in Willenhall to throw the gun and magazine into the water.

Police found the gun, a 9mm Luger pistol, and a magazine containing a bullet, within hours of the arrest after Bassett directed officers to the location.

A witness who was in the flat described at the time told how he heard the pair talking about drugs, and that Bassett had told Mr Packeer that he had only paid him £200 of a £2,000 debt.

The witness heard a ‘pop’ and walked into the room to find Bassett with his arms around the victim, saying: “Addi, addi, what’s happening? What did I do, what did I do?”.

Bassett told the witness he would kill him if he called police before fleeing the scene.

He admitted manslaughter, and today at Warwickshire Justice Centre, he was found not guilty of murder. He was found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. He will be sentenced on Wednesday (26 June).

Det Insp Caroline Corfield, who led the investigation, said: “We might never know exactly what happened in the flat, but the reality is that anyone who gets involved with firearms is putting themselves and others in serious danger.

“There is only one purpose to an illegally held, loaded handgun and that is to shoot someone.

“Sometimes the person shot is not the intended target.

“Gun crime devastates lives.

“Here we have a man who has shot dead his best friend. Two families will have to live with the consequences of that for the rest of their lives. Our thoughts remain with family of Addison Packeer.”