Man shot dead by police on Tube

[Trotsky]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4706787.stm

A man has been shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube station in south London, as officers hunt four bombing suspects. Passenger Mark Whitby told BBC News he had seen a man of Asian appearance shot five times by "plain-clothes police officers" with a handgun. BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said there were unconfirmed reports officers at the scene had said the man shot was the Oval bomb suspect. And armed police have cordoned off an area of Harrow Road in west London.

Man shot dead on Tube, from eye-witness reports it sounds like an execution....there is speculation that the guy was a suicide bomber and was attempting to detonate while the two officers had him on the floor.

[Samildanach]

Apparently the guy jumped the barrier to get into the station.....thats what they probably shot him for.

Police officer looks at dead corpse.

"Next time, swipe in and swipe out and let that be a lesson to you" :)

[rcne]

Actually, I'm impressed by the rapid and seemingly thorough investigation since the 7/7 attacks.

MI5 and Scotland Yard are fast tracking these threats, and will intercept a threat with deadly force if necessary.

It is a more organized and tactically prepared response than I had thought capable of the Brits in such a short time.

Let me repeat - I am impressed with the British response.

[Trotsky]

The Brits have been dealing with terror and terrorists for a long time, they know what they're doing. US is relatively new to the area in comparison and has a lot of learning to do....saying that...the Brits are no experts.

[Nono]

Quote by: Trots The Brits have been dealing with terror and terrorists for a long time.

Yes, for a long time bombings came from the largely US-funded IRA.

[Matt W]

*shrugs* It's by-the-by. We've got experience with it - so we're alright. I guess the question is how is this going to affect tourism?

[rmnunez]

My guess is it will have an adverse impact on conventional tourism, but it should promote an alternative tourism we might call "terrorist tourism" where terrorist wanabees will travel to locations where they might get to see real terrorists studying, working, praying, trainining and networking with their similars, could even witness the terrorists in action or their violent repression.

[Chalk]

I'm not sure what I make of this, on the one hand, IF they were a terrorist, shooting one man could have prevented something that could have injured innocent civilians.. and on the other was he just a shady looking Asian. Something about this makes me feel uneasy.

[Chris]

Stockwell, go figure.

Seriously though ..shit! thats hardcore!

[italiangm]

Shot man not connected to bombing

A man shot dead by police hunting the bombers behind Thursday's London attacks was unconnected to the incidents, police have confirmed.

A Scotland Yard statement read: "We believe we now know the identity of the man shot at Stockwell Underground station by police on Friday 22nd July 2005, although he is still subject to formal identification.

"We are now satisfied that he was not connected with the incidents of Thursday 21st July 2005.

"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."

The statement confirmed the man had been followed by police from a house in Tulse Hill that was under surveillance.

His death is being investigated by officers from the MPS Directorate of Professional Standards, and will be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4711021.stm

[Chris]

So his only crime was jumping the turnstyles?

Damn

[Osborn F Enready]

This is the quote I like, and I wonder why this is so SECRET, since fear of death is one of the best deterrents, unless you are up to no good.

Analysts said police were operating under secret new guidelines, codenamed Operation Kratos, allowing them to aim for the head if they believe there was a threat to the public.

The killing in front of shocked passengers on a packed underground train triggered speculation that traditionally unarmed British police had adopted a shoot-to-kill policy. Police were questioning two men were held after raids late on Friday in the Stockwell area of south London close to the site of one of Thursday's failed bombs on three underground trains and a bus -- the same targets as the July 7 bombs.

Police released closed circuit television pictures of the four suspects and appealed for the public to help find them, but warned that they were dangerous and not to be approached.

Less than 24-hours after the pictures were released police said they had received nearly 500 calls from the public.

The killing of the man took Britain's fight against terrorism to a new level of force in a country where only specialist officers carry weapons and killings by police are very rare.


"Simple nervous system shut-down, that is the objective," said anti-terrorism expert Robert Ayers of the Royal Institute of International Affairs think-tank told Reuters.


Quite a change for the Anti-Gun Brits.

[Chalk]

I'd like to stay anti-gun myself..

[Osborn F Enready]

Jumping turnstyles? No Chris, his crime was not completely submitting, immediately, without question or rejection.

This is why people in this country are so AGAINST this type of CCTV, overzealous police state mentalities. Once they have the power, shoot first, ask questions later.

[Chris]

I dont think it has to do with CCTV. They guy tested the police that's all.

[PatrickHenry]

Tested the police? That's why they had him down and then put a gun to his head and shot five times, making sure he was dead? For testing the police? Is this a characteristic of a police state?

http://www.telegraphindia.com/105072...ry_5024411.asp

A man, said by passengers to be “Asian”, was pinned down on the floor of an Underground train at Stockwell station in south London today and shot through the head five times by plainclothes policemen hunting for the London bombers. <snip>--- Another witness, Mark Whitby, saw the shooting at close range. He said: “An Asian guy ran on to the train. As he ran, he was hotly pursued by what I knew to be three plainclothes police officers. “He sort of tripped but they were hotly pursuing him and couldn’t have been more than two or three feet behind him at this time. He half-tripped, was half-pushed to the floor,” said Whitby. “One of the police officers was holding a black automatic pistol in his left hand. They held it down to him and unloaded five shots into him. I saw it. He’s dead, five shots, he’s dead.” Whitby added that the man did not seem to be carrying a weapon or wearing a rucksack.

[Matt W]

He was, in fact, a Brazilian electrician. Moral of the story so far is DON'T piss off the police right now...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4711021.stm

A man shot dead by police hunting the bombers behind Thursday's London attacks was a Brazilian electrician unconnected to the incidents. The man, who died at Stockwell Tube on Friday, has been named by police as Jean Charles de Menezes, 27.

[Milton Bradley]

Is it a rule that there can be only one moral to the story?


I'm thinking the list of "morals to the story" could grow. There is this one ...

Quote by: Osborn F Enready This is why people in this country are so AGAINST this type of CCTV, overzealous police state mentalities. Once they have the power, shoot first, ask questions later.

Perhaps one could also construct a few around this being the result of bad foreign policies as well.

[bishop]

he should've stopped when they told him to stopped. if he did, he'd definitely still be alive and most likely they wouldn't have even discovered that he was an illegal alien.


to play devil's advocate - what if this guy did have bombs on him? after all, does anyone here think that a terrorist would stop for the police? i ask this particularly of the "anti-police-state" crowd in the interest of seeing if they can offer a solution to that scenario.. (what if the guy did have bombs on him - what should they have done differently?)

[PatrickHenry]

Let's look closely at the situation. This man ran from police. He was wearing a thick coat. He may have looked foreign to the Bobbies. He was down on the floor of the underground surrounded by police with automatic weapons. He had no visible weapons. He was executed at close range by five shots to the head. Is this acceptable to you people?