Shoot to Kill Policy?

The news from London today is hard to believe — armed police basically executed a suspected bomber on a tube train at Stockwell Station.

Apparently, they chased him down the escalators and onto a train, where several plain-clothes officers bundled him to the ground and then shot him five times in the head in front of terrified passengers.

Presumably they will argue that they had to kill him before he had a chance to blow himself up, along with the nearby passengers… But nonetheless, this sets a chilling precedent in a country where the police are generally supposed to be unarmed.

One thought on “Shoot to Kill Policy?

  1. crad

    Actually it turns out from the inquest that the poor Brazilian guy, who was somewhat scarily identified by more or less everybody on the train, according to news reports, as being of ‘South Asian’ appearance, was shot nine times, eight times in the head.

    Also, the Police Officer who pulled the trigger has been given a free holiday by the Met…

    A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “An officer has had a break paid for by the Metropolitan Police, authorised by the commissioner, to allow him to take his wife and family away from the family home.”

    One of the other officers is already on a family holiday

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4720979.stm

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