On September 5th, 2001, in the quiet suburban area of Heaton, Bradford, West Yorkshire, sixteen-year-old Yasser Hussain Nazir was gunned down in a brazen, execution-style shooting at a petrol station forecourt. The killing, widely believed to stem from a tit-for-tat gang feud in nearby Keighley, shocked the local community and remains one of West Yorkshire’s most notorious unsolved murders more than two decades later.
Yasser, who lived on Chatsworth Street in Keighley, was illegally driving a white Vauxhall Astra with two friends. The group had just left a police station in Bradford. As they traveled along Haworth Road in the Chellow Heights area, a red Mercedes-Benz in front began swerving erratically. Yasser pulled into the Shell petrol station forecourt on Haworth Road for safety.
A green Honda Accord then pulled up alongside the Astra. A passenger in the Honda, described in some accounts as masked, leaned out and fired a long-barrelled shotgun twice at close range into Yasser’s head. The attack was swift and deliberate. Yasser managed to drive roughly a hundred yards up the road before collapsing and dying from his injuries. His two companions fled the scene.
The Honda Accord was later found burned out in Spencer Road, Horton Grange, Bradford, suggesting a calculated effort to destroy evidence. The murder weapon has never been recovered.
Investigators quickly linked the killing to ongoing rivalries between gangs in Keighley. Intelligence indicated it was revenge for the shooting of a senior member of a rival group about a month earlier. Yasser was reportedly targeted after his presence at the Bradford police station became known, with two vehicles allegedly following him in a planned ambush.
Some early reports, including from Yasser’s brother, raised the possibility of mistaken identity, but the prevailing view from police has been that it was a deliberate act in the cycle of gang violence.
The murder sent ripples of fear through the community. Yasser’s family, including his brother Mohammed Saddique (then twenty-four), made public appeals for information. He noted the family had received threatening phone calls afterward.
An inquest in 2008, presided over by Bradford Coroner Roger Whittaker, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing. Detective Constable Jacqui Starkey of West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team testified that a “climate of fear” had silenced witnesses. Over a dozen people were questioned, but reluctance to speak, due to fears of reprisals, hindered the investigation.
A total of around ten to fourteen people were arrested in connection with the case, but insufficient evidence led to no charges. Police have expressed confidence in knowing the perpetrators’ identities, yet community intimidation has prevented justice.
Yasser Nazir’s murder is still unsolved as of April 2026. West Yorkshire Police continue to appeal for information.
Crime Immemorial 