David Ungi was arrested in possession of a loaded gun at a gym in Spain seven years after he fled the UK.
The 31-year-old is currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of murdering Vinny Waddington. The teenager was fatally blasted in the chest with a shotgun in 2015 after a crash on Banks Road in Garston.
Jurors heard at the close of the prosecution's case this morning, Wednesday, that Ungi left the country on July 15 2015. This was the day after 18-year-old Mr Waddington was shot dead.
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Then, in 2022, Spanish police received intelligence that the defendant was living with several other men at an address in Coin - a town around 20 miles away from Malaga. Officers watched over the property for several days before Ungi and three others were seen leaving on May 5 last year.
He was handed a black backpack by one of his associates, and was carrying this bag when the group were subsequently stopped and searched upon entering a gym. Located inside this rucksack was a loaded 9mm parabellum pistol which had had its serial number removed.
A search of the address where Ungi had been residing was carried out the following day. Among the items seized from inside were a self-loading, "fully functional" Colt .45 calibre pistol - the serial number of which had been "partially" removed - a "partially converted" blank-firing Zoraki pistol with its serial number removed and a quantity of ammunition.
Ungi was later convicted of offences relating to the possession of these illegal firearms in Spain. He was then extradited back to the UK on November 7, 2022.
Peter Glenser KC told the court during the prosecution's opening that Mr Waddington was "gunned down in cold blood" on the evening of July 14, 2015. He had been the pillion passenger of a scrambler bike which was involved in a crash with an Audi A3 before he was shot dead.
The jury heard that "three men were responsible for his murder", with two men - Luke Kendrick and Ryan Bate - having previously been found guilty. Mr Glenser described Ungi, formerly of Melbreck Road in Allerton, as the "third man".
The shooting came a day Mr Waddington's 17-year-old brother Liam had been involved in an argument with Ungi, then 23, at Pro Flex Gym. In a WhatsApp message sent to his girlfriend in the early afternoon of July 13, Vinny said: "Our kid has just had murder with David Ungi in the gym, it's going off."
The following evening, the car and two motorbikes were seen "riding around" Garston and Speke. One witness described hearing an "exchange of words" between the Audi and one bike, which was described by another member of the public as driving "fast and stupidly".
The vehicles then crashed at around 8.45pm, with the red scrambler coming to rest underneath the car. An occupant of the Audi was subsequently said to have shot both Mr Waddington and Francis Humphries, the rider of the motorbike.
The former managed to flee to the garden of a nearby house in the aftermath. He was later rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital, but died as a result of a shotgun wound to the left-hand side of his chest.
Mr Humphries meanwhile managed to "get himself away from the three men" and was driven away by a friend who happened to be passing the scene in his car. He too attended hospital that evening after suffering several wounds "from shotgun pellets", but was not seriously injured and was discharged shortly afterwards.
Ungi's DNA was then discovered on a Lucozade bottle in the rear of the car in the passenger's side. The same night, he was in contact with his brother Michael Riccio as he allegedly "started to plan his flight from the United Kingdom to the continent".
The two men drove down to Dover the following morning before boarding a ferry to France. Mr Riccio returned to England two days later.
Ungi, who is defended by Caroline Goodwin KC, denies murder and attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm. The trial, before Justice Julian Goose, continues.
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