Jonathan Matondo, aged 16, of Verdon Street, Burngreave, was shot in the head on a recreation area on Nottingham Cliff.

A feud between two rival neighbourhood gangs escalated out of control, Sheffield Crown Court was told.

The prosecution claims Negus Nelson, aged 19, of Carwood Road, Pitsmoor, who denies murder, either pulled the trigger of the gun or he was part of the group responsible.

The court heard Nelson was part of the S4 gang responsible for organising and carrying out the cold-blooded murder of a rival S3 gang member.

Andrew Robertson QC, prosecuting, said the murder was in revenge for a gun fire attack on the home of Nelson's aunt and uncle Nora and Barry Wiggan, of Bressingham Road, Pitsmoor, the day before.

He said just a few hours before the fatal shooting there was a failed attempt on Jonathan's life when shots were fired at him while he visited a friend's flat on Melrose Road, Pitsmoor.

"This killing was an organised and planned attack on the deceased in which he was targeted and ruthlessly killed," said Mr Robertson.

"We do not have to prove this defendant fired the fatal shot, although the evidence, we submit, suggests he may well have done.

"Negus Nelson was part of a group of men who were hunting for Jonathan Matondo and who eventually found him.

"At the very least this defendant was party to a group who were all in it together - seeking out their victim in order to shoot him dead.

"He is guilty of murder irrespective of whether he did fire that fatal shot.

"The police have their suspicions about who the others responsible are but no charges have yet been laid and that part of the investigation is still ongoing."

The court heard Jonathan's killer opened fire at him from a distance of around 60ft, using a red laser device to pinpoint the target.

Tests on the empty bullet casings left at the scene of the murder and the earlier shooting incident show there were three different guns fired that day.

Jonathan, whose street name was Venomous, was also seen by one of his friends carrying a gun on the day he was killed.

Mr Robertson said South Yorkshire Police have records of 38 incidents involving the warring postcode gangs in the two years before the killing, many of which involved firearms.

Two months before the murder Nelson's home was fired at and the following day after a member of the S3 gang had their home shot at - with the same gun that killed Jonathan.

The case continues.

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