Best friend ‘lucky to be alive’ after Shoeburyness shooting
A man shot his best friend in the leg during an argument after a night out, a court heard.
Adam Valli, 22, of Derifall Close, Beckton, London, chased the man down the A127 before the shooting in Shoeburyness on 14 May last year.
Essex Police said the victim's injury was "life-threatening" and he was "extremely lucky to be alive".
Valli was convicted of attempted murder and will be sentenced at Basildon Crown Court in April.
Armed officers responded to reports of a shooting on Frobisher Way in Shoeburyness shortly after 02:00 BST.
Bullets recovered from the ground close to where Adam Valli shot his friend in Shoeburyness last May
The court heard the two men had been at a nightclub in London together and had argued over a lift home.
The argument continued over phone calls and text messages with Valli threatening to "blast" the victim, police said.
Valli then chased the victim along the A127 in a separate car, before cutting in front and ordering him to get into his vehicle - before producing a gun.
The two men got out of the car on Frobisher Way - with Valli pointing the weapon at the victim's head. The victim was then shot in the leg.
'Cowardly'
Valli was arrested on 19 May at his home address. Detectives said he had attempted to change his appearance by shaving off his hair and beard.
He was found guilty of a charge of attempted murder at Basildon Crown Court on Monday - after a three-week trial.
Det Insp Yoni Adler, from the Essex Police Serious Crime Directorate, said: "It was very clear that Valli acted in a cowardly fashion following a perceived slight, arming himself with a gun before shooting the victim.
"The tenacity and high calibre of the investigation cannot be underestimated. This result has taken another dangerous individual off the streets and unable to harm anyone else."
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