Keith Copeland

Keith Copeland was shot outside the Plazza Cafe in Lozells Road, Handsworth in Birmingham at about 2.20am on 19 March 1994.

He was a doorman at the Plazza Cafe, which was an illegal drinking den.

He was shot at point blank range as soon as he opened the front door of the Plazza Club in George Street, Lozells. There were said to have been about 20-40 people in the Plazza Club at the time.

Keith Copeland died almost immediately.

The gunman then fired a warning shot into the ground and strolled off with two accomplices.

The police said that they thought that the shooting was the result of a fall-out over crack. It was said that after the argument inside the club that the man had left and returned shortly after with a shotgun and fired it at virtually point-blank range at Keith Copeland.

The police said, 'There had been a previous altercation in the club and it is possible that Mr Copeland was an innocent victim. He was shot as soon as he opened the door'.

A man was tried for his murder but acquitted. The man tried had lived in Newton, Birmingham.

After the shooting the man tried went on the run. Seven weeks later the police released a photograph of him, describing him as a dangerous man and likely to have been carrying a firearm.  A detective said, 'This man takes crack cocaine and has an expensive drug habit which can lead him to behave in an unpredictable fashion. On no account should anyone approach him because he will probably be armed on a permanent basis'.

The man was described as having lost a lot of weight since the photograph of him was taken. He was described as:

• 5ft 9in tall.

He was said to have had connections in Handsworth, Lozells, Perry Bar, Winson Green, Dudley and Wolverhampton and to have been hiding with friends.

In July 1994 the police appealed for drug pushers and addicts to shop him.

He was brought before the courts on 6 August 1994.

However, he was later acquitted of the murder at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday 11 October 1995. The man denied that he had been the gunman. He declined to give evidence, but his defence said that it was a case of mistaken identity.

Following the acquittal a detective said, 'There was no criticism of the investigation during any stage'.

However, on 24 December 1995 the man was kidnapped by Yardie gunmen and taken to Sandwell golf course where he was tied up and shot. He was found the following morning almost dead. It was said that he had survived the freezing night because he was high on crack cocaine. A man was later tried for his attempted murder at the Old Bailey but was acquitted after the man failed to give evidence against him.

The man acquitted of Keith Copeland’s murder was later convicted of murdering a nightclub bouncer at the Premonition nightclub in 2005, and sentenced to 30 years.

Keith Copeland had had two children, twins, and had lived in Freer Road, Aston, Birmingham.

The Plazza Cafe, which was at 252 Lozells Road, was later shut down in 2011 after a total of three people had been murdered there and a large number of other crimes had come about there. The police used their powers under the Police Act 2001 to close the venue after George Terralounge was shot there in a rival spat. Daniel Brown was also shot dead there in November 1998 after he trod on someone's foot. The owner was also ordered to pay £2,500 and warned that he would be jailed if he opened it again. The police described the club as having been a nucleus of problems over the previous 15 years and said that removing it would have a big impact in making the area safer and reducing crime.

252 Lozells Road is now a wallpaper and paint shop.