Digbeth warehouse raid: Akhtar Javeed shot dead

Akhtar Javeed was found lying in a street in Digbeth and died despite efforts to save him

A man has been shot dead in an attempted robbery at a warehouse.

Masked men raided the premises at Direct Source 3 Ltd in Digbeth, central Birmingham, at 18:40 GMT on Wednesday.

Company director Akhtar Javeed, 56, was found in the road outside his drinks delivery firm's warehouse and pronounced dead in hospital.

West Midlands Police believe two men were involved in the raid in Rea Street South and said the warehouse was specifically "targeted".

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Masked men swooped on Direct Source 3 Ltd, at 66 Rea Street South, on Wednesday evening

Other staff are thought to have been on the premises at the time of the raid.

A police spokesman said Mr Javeed was lying in the street with a gunshot wound when officers arrived.

Ch Supt Andy Parsons said officers were alerted by a 999 call from staff inside the business premises.

Police said they did not yet know what type of a firearm was used.

Fingertip searches and forensic testing have been taking place at the scene.

The force declined to confirm whether anything was taken during the attempted robbery.

Detectives also refused to comment on claims Mr Javeed may have followed the raiders out of the building before being gunned down.

Norman Khan, 28, a car salesman, said he saw Mr Javeed lying in a pool of blood as paramedics battled to save his life.

He said: "All his face was full of blood and there was blood on the floor. There were three guys standing there, I think they knew him."

Acting Det Ch Insp Martin Slevin said it happened at a time when people may have been leaving work and could have seen what happened.

Nafeesah Abid, director of a nearby accountancy firm, said the mainly industrial area around Rea Street South was not busy shortly before the raid.

He said: "My heart goes out to the family. I drove past in my car a few minutes before but I didn't see or hear anything."

Syed Abbas, 30, who lives at an east London property that Mr Javeed owned and lived in during part of the week, said Mr Javeed was "a very nice man" and that news of his death was broken to his wife and children on Wednesday night.

He said: "Within 15 minutes of finding out his whole family went to Birmingham. They were crying and very upset."

It was understood Mr Javeed's wife, two young children and grown up daughter lived in the two rooms at the front of property in West Ham.

"He used to work five days a week in Birmingham and he would come here at the weekend," said Mr Abbas of Pakistan-born Mr Javeed.

There has been a spike in gun crime in Birmingham in recent weeks . Police said it was of "great concern".

So far this year there have been 41 arrests for gun-related crime and 19 firearms have been seized.

This is the third gun death investigated by West Midlands Police since October.