A woman dubbed the Wisconsin hitwoman or the hitwoman in a hijab was convicted Tuesday of attempting to murder a British storeowner in a 2019 plot that failed only because her gun jammed. Aimee Betro, 45, of West Allis, Wisconsin, traveled to the UK to carry out the attack, which authorities say was part of a violent family feud.

A Feud Turned Deadly

According to BBC News, Betro was hired by Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, after a 2018 fight at a Birmingham clothing shop owned by the victim’s father, Aslat Mahumad. Both men were injured in that altercation and allegedly sought revenge on Mahumad or his family.

Betro, who met Nazir on a dating app, flew to the UK in August 2019. On September 7, she confronted Sikander Ali outside his Birmingham home. Wearing a headscarf to conceal her identity, she pointed a 9mm handgun at him at point-blank range — but the weapon jammed, saving his life.

“[Betro was] a fairly unexceptional individual. On the face of it, a normal-looking individual, prepared to do an outrageous, audacious and persistent murder,” said Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Orencas of West Midlands Police’s major crime unit.

https://usaherald.com/hitwoman-in-a-hijab-the-failed-murder-plot-across-the-atlantic/

Brazen Actions and Threatening Messages

Prosecutors said that after the failed shooting, Betro sent a taunting text to Ali’s father:

“Where are you hiding? Stop playing hide and seek, you are lucky it jammed.”

Hours later, Betro allegedly returned to the home and fired three shots into the property while it was unoccupied. She then flew back to the United States the next day.

Calling her crimes “brazen,” Orencas noted there “didn’t seem to be a whole lot of effort to avoid detection,” according to People.

Wisconsin Hitwoman Captured in Armenia 

Betro was arrested last year in Armenia and extradited to the UK in January.

 During her trial, prosecutors also linked her to another plot weeks after the attempted murder. Authorities say she mailed ammunition and gun parts to the UK in an attempt to frame a rival of Nazir. Her DNA was found on the packages, and surveillance footage showed her mailing them under a false name.

Nazir and Aslam were convicted in November 2023 and sentenced to 32 years and 10 years, respectively. Betro, appearing emotionless in court in a purple t-shirt with her hair in space buns, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol with intent to cause fear of violence, and illegally importing ammunition. She will be sentenced on August 21.