A contracted enforcer has been convicted in connection with a failed drive-by shooting that left a young girl with a bullet in her brain, while the assailant responsible remains unidentified.

The nine-year-old was enjoying ice cream when she was hit by the first of six bullets fired into a Mediterranean restaurant situated in north London.

Caught in the crossfire of a violent feud between two Turkish gangs in the city, the child required reconstructive surgery with titanium to mend her skull.

The bullet remains lodged in her brain and medics said she will have physical and cognitive difficulties for the rest of her life.

Javon Riley, aged 33, was convicted of the attempted murder of three men, the main targets, and of inflicting grievous bodily harm on the girl.

Riley declined to provide any details about the shooter, and Scotland Yard has announced a £15,000 reward for information that could lead to the gunman’s capture and prosecution.

The girl’s mother, who cannot disclose her daughter’s name due to her age, expressed that the gunman, using a stolen Ducati Monster motorcycle, destroyed the future she envisioned for her child.

‘This was not just an accident — even if our daughter was not the intended target, those responsible were still attempting to take lives, It is brutal and inhumane,’ she added.

‘Now, weakness on her left side means she can only watch from the sidelines, living with a titanium plate in her skull and a bullet still in her brain. As parents, we are shattered — emotionally, physically, mentally, and financially. Each day brings new challenges, from her slower growth on one side to the emotional and mental scars that cannot be seen.’

The three targeted men running for cover as a gunman opens fire on a Turkish restaurant in Dalston 

The gunman drives past the restaurant and opens fire, shooting six bullets in a matter of seconds

Javon Riley, 33, was today found guilty of attempted murder at the Old Bailey

A CCTV image issued by Metropolitan Police of the motorcyclist wanted in connection with the shooting at the restaurant in Dalston, East London, in May 2024, who has never been traced

Three men who were sitting at a nearby table in the Evin Restaurant were also struck in the hail of bullets on the evening of May 29 last year.

Nasser Ali, 43, was shot in his backbone. Kenan Aydogdu, 45, was hit in the leg – and Mustafa Kiziltan, 35, was wounded in the thigh.

The trio were members of the Hackney Turks gang and the assassination attempt was organised by their fierce rivals, the Tottenham Turks, who are locked in a bitter feud that has spread across Europe.

Police believe the warring gangs are responsible for more than 20 murders in the past two decades.

Detective inspector Ben Dalloway, of the Metropolitan Police, said the shooting was another example of ‘tit-for-tat violent incidents’ between the gangs.

‘You’ll have one member of one OCG [organised crime group] shot, stabbed, murdered, and then within months, sometimes even less, there will be retaliation,’ he said.

Indeed, the Tottenham Turks leader Izzet Eren was gunned down in Moldova, where he fled after escaping from prison in Turkey, just six weeks after the shooting in Dalston.

And earlier this month, Erdal Ozmen, 45, a senior member of the Hackney Turks, was gunned down just half a mile away from the Evin Restaurant.

Law enforcement sources said Ozmen’s assassination was thought to be to avenge Eren’s murder.

Forensic officers conducting a search outside the restaurant after the shooting in May 2024

Police stand guard outside the scene of the shooting in Dalston, East London, in May last year

Tottenham Turks boss Izzet Eren (pictured) was shot dead in Moldova just six weeks after the shooting in Dalston

The bloody war is understood to have been sparked after Hackney Turk capo Kemal Armagan was beaten up by Eren and his cousin Kemal Eren at the Manor Club snooker hall in north London in January 2009.

The attack was followed by a series of revenge contract killings in the UK and beyond.

Eren was jailed in London for 21 years in 2015 after being caught with a submachine gun on the way to murder a Hackney Turk.

The same year, Jermaine Baker, 28, was shot dead by police outside Wood Green Crown Court as members of the Tottenham Turks tried to spring the gang leader from a prison van.

Eren was moved to a Turkish jail in 2019 and escaped a month later, before he was shot in Moldova in July.

Erdal Ozmen, linked with the Hackney Turks was shot dead in Stoke Newington the early hours of August 6

And Dr Mahmut Cengiz, an adjunct faculty at the Department of Criminology, Law and Society of George Mason University, said the bloodshed was likely to continue and he expected a ‘strong response’ to the latest shootings, with senior members of both groups likely to be targeted.

‘If you are…able to kill a group leader, it means that you are the most powerful organisation,’ he said.

The Taliban’s 2022 edict banning the cultivation of opium poppies used to make heroin was having a knock-on effect across Europe, with shortages meaning gangs were becoming more ferocious to maintain market share, he added.

Riley, who admitted carrying out reconnaissance and picking up the gunman, had claimed he thought the job, for which he was promised about £40,000, would be a ‘smash and grab’ robbery.

The Jamaican-born gangster has a string of convictions dating back to 2008 and will be sentenced on September 12.