Police Shoot Man on London's Tube

Police have shot and killed a man at a London tube station. According to reports, a South Asian man was being chased by police officers. One witness told BBC News, "One of [the police officers] was carrying a black handgun - it looked like an automatic - they pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him." The shooting occured at the Stockwell station in South London. The media speculates that the man had a connection to yesterday's would-be bombers. As underground travel is still disrupted in London, there are many theories about yesterday's bombings (copycats? the B team?) but investigations are still ongoing. This is wild news as NYC tries to get to work with more police in our subways.

Londonist has further updates.

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By Jen Chung in News on July 22, 2005 6:48 AM

Comments [rss]

Tony Bullair

So this is English democracy at work defending the rights of a civilised way of life?

Sounds like Israeli democracy...

JC

Yeah, I was wondering about the gun! Never been to jolly ol' England me self, but I was under the impression that bobbies didn't carry guns--just sticks. If so, a public shooting must have been a big deal across the pond...especially given the circumstances of the past few weeks.

Cheng-Jih Chen

Oh, forgot to note that British police don't typically carry firearms, so the ones tasked to follow and stop the guy were probably from an anti-terrorism squad.

Cheng-Jih Chen

I suppose they thought he was a suicide bomber about to detonate what was underneath his coat. From that point of view, tackling isn't sufficient, and the police weren't taking chances.

A recent news report says that police were tailing the man from his home to the Tube station with intent to arrest him:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1189947,00.html

Explosives weren't found on him after an initial examination, though.

This site has updates:

http://www.perfect.co.uk/2005/07/london-bombs-2-news-theories-and-reaction

SP

obviously i'm in the dark about the details as we all are, but still, i cant help but wonder why they shot him if they had him pinned down. wouldnt he be more valuable alive?

S.D.

Now, This is getting scary.

Depending on the News Website you read, he either had no Back Pack or did, He was shot 5 times by ONE officer or Many.

Nuts! Every "Mainstream Media" outlet is trying to "scoop" everyone else and only adding to the public confusion.

In any case, Terrorist or not, It would have been much better to take him alive. If he was a Terrorist, we'll never know what he knew...

If he was just a Fare Evader, he sure picked a Really Bad day to do it.