Facebook fugitive Alvone Maybury is today facing a lengthy jail sentence after being convicted of a shooting on a city centre street.

Maybury's trial heard he's an associate of the 42 gang and went to Captain's Lounge with two friends last December 18 to meet members of Parkside.

The rival groups got into an altercation and Maybury, 24, pulled out a gun and shot at his rivals outside on Reid Street, just after midnight. No one was injured and the gun was later recovered by the Police, with the assistance of Maybury.

Heralding yesterday's verdict, Chief Inspector Nicholas Pedro, who's in charge of the Serious Crime Unit, revealed that the weapon has also been forensically linked to other cases, although he declined to say which. "Yes, it has been linked to other crimes. All those matters are still under investigation," he told The Royal Gazette.

DCI Pedro said of the outcome of Maybury case: "We've heard some people in the community talk about 'the Police don't do this, they're afraid, they can't do their jobs'. This demonstrates that we have the ability to convict on very serious criminal matters and we will continue to do so." The Reid Street shooting was witnessed by Egbert Christopher, a bar patron who was out on the street having a cigarette at the time. Mr. Christopher told the trial he was unable to identify any of the men involved, but prosecutors built the rest of the case against Maybury on circumstantial evidence.

The accused man famously escaped from prison guards as he was led away from court in July after first being charged with the shooting. He hit international headlines after posting messages on his Facebook page about life on the run, bragging that he'd got his handcuffs off and was "free as a bird".

Police eventually found him two weeks later hiding in a garden shed. He's been in custody ever since, and was remanded back behind bars after the unanimous verdicts against him yesterday of possessing a firearm and ammunition and discharging the firearm.

Maybury showed no emotion as the foreman of the jury delivered the verdicts after two-and-a-half hours of deliberation although he appeared to be trembling. He briefly resisted the efforts of prison guards to get him to stand up as Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves told him: "Mr. Defendant, the jury has found you guilty on all three counts." He will be sentenced at a later date, having already pleaded guilty to escaping lawful custody.

During the course of the week-long trial, the jury saw videos that Maybury filmed on his cell phone showing him brandishing the gun in question and making threats that "niggas are ready for war". Police discovered the damning evidence against him after arresting him two days after the shooting.

Detectives pledged not to prosecute him over the footage on his phone if he helped them recover the firearm. However, they said they could still press charges over the gun, depending on the outcome of forensic and ballistic tests on it.

Maybury subsequently made phone calls to his cousin Dion Cholmondeley, who was with him that night at Captain's Lounge. That led officers to retrieve the gun from a dumpster in Sandys on January 14. It was sent to the US for expert analysis, along with a bullet case recovered from the crime scene, and Maybury's BlackBerry cell phone.

Expert witnesses told the jury the tests proved the bullet in question was fired from the gun Maybury posed with. There was also gunshot residue on his phone, suggesting it was nearby when a weapon was fired.

What the jury did not hear was that Maybury actually confessed to the crime during one of his Police interviews. Trial judge Carlisle Greaves ruled that evidence should not go before the jury because the confession came after a Police officer promised to assist Maybury, if he assisted them by telling the truth. The judge said that amounted to an "inducement" to the confession, which meant the evidence was "tainted". His ruling meant the trial only heard Police interviews where Maybury admitted being at Captain's Lounge, but denied being armed or committing a shooting. He maintained his right not to take the stand to give evidence in his own defence.

Speaking after the verdict, defence lawyer Llewellyn Peniston complained that although Maybury was never charged with gun possession in respect of the cell phone images he feels the Police broke their promise not to use them against him.

"I regret that this case has not given enough attention to the broken promises of Her Majesty's Police when they are asking the general public to assist them," he remarked.

However, DCI Pedro backed the work his officers did on the case, saying: "We did not lay charges in respect of the photographs. The charges were in respect of a shooting that occurred on Reid Street with that same firearm, and the agreement did not extend to anything else." Maybury is the fourth man to have been convicted of a shooting in just over four months. He must return to court on November 1, when a date will be set for his sentence.