Shropshire Star

Would-be assassin whose gun jammed during ‘targeted attack’ is jailed

Martynas Okmanas was arrested on a roof above a shop after police broke down his reinforced door.

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Martynas Okmanas

A would-be assassin whose female victim managed to escape after his gun jammed during the attack has been jailed for 28 years.

Lithuanian Martynas Okmanas was shown on CCTV walking calmly up to the mother-of-two’s front door in Solihull, after watching her husband leave for the school run, West Midlands Police said.

As he walked through the doorway, the woman – fearing it was a robbery – threw a Rolex watch towards Okmanas in a desperate bid to get him to leave.

But, without saying a word, he pulled a handgun and opened fire as she sat in the living room of the property in Dovehouse Lane on December 18 last year.

CCTV
Martynas Okmanas pictured on CCTV walking up to the front door of the victim’s home (West Midlands Police/PA)

The first shot hit the 51-year-old in the left shoulder and embedded in a wall.

The second bullet went through her hand as she tried to fend him off, before it is believed the gun jammed.

The quick-thinking woman used the opportunity to flee to the safety of a neighbour’s house, while Okmanas ran to a waiting black BMW.

The 28-year-old, of Studfall Avenue, Corby, Northamptonshire, had denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court of attempted murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and having ammunition.

He was handed a 28-year jail term, with a five-year extended licence period, at the court on Wednesday.

Detectives traced the black BMW, which had false number plates, to Northamptonshire – and tracked it being driven on to a Eurotunnel train three days later.

Police then discovered that a mobile phone, linked to the train booking, had followed the route the car had taken to Kent on December 21.

Okmanas had gone abroad to spend Christmas with family in Lithuania, but on his return to the UK a covert police operation tracked him to an address in Birmingham on February 22.

Officers had to break through a reinforced door and a barricade made of furniture before arresting Okmanas on the roof above a shop.

He refused to answer questions and his motive remains a mystery, as nothing was stolen.

After sentencing, Detective Inspector Kat Sibley said: “We have some hypothesis for what was behind the attack but nothing concrete – and there are no links between Okmanas and the victim, as far as we know.”

She added: “Our belief is this was a targeted attack on the woman.”

“This case is not closed.”

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