For all those who think that shoot first, ask questions later is honestly the best policy:
Shot man not connected to bombing
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.
Two other men have been arrested and are being questioned after bombers targeted three Tube trains and a bus.
Police also said a suspect package found in north-west London on Saturday may be linked to Thursday’s attacks.
‘Tragedy’
Scotland Yard said Mr Menezes, who lived in Brixton, south London, was completely unconnected to the bomb attacks and added: “For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets.”
The Brazilian government has expressed its shock at the killing and Brazil’s foreign minister Celso Amorim is on his way to London to get an explanation from foreign secretary Jack Straw.
In a statement the government said it “looks forward to receiving the necessary explanation from the British authorities on the circumstances which led to this tragedy”.
The shooting is being investigated by officers from Scotland Yard’s Directorate of Professional Standards, and will be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
The family of Mr Menezes told the Brazilian media there was nothing in his past which would give him a reason to run from police.
Mr Menezes’ cousin, Alex Alves, told O Globo television: “I asked that the body be released as quickly as possible, we need to bring him to Brazil, which is what the family wants”.
“He does not have a past that would make him run from police,” he said.
Mr Alves said Mr Menezes, who was from the town of Gonzaga in Minas Gerais state, had lived in London legally for at least three years and was employed as an electrician. Civil rights groups have called for a full inquiry into the shooting.
Meanwhile Dr Azzam Tamimi from the Muslim Association of Britain told BBC News the police should review their procedures.
“Frankly it doesn’t matter whether he is a Muslim or not, he is a human being.
“It is human lives that are being targeted whether by terrorists or whether in this case unfortunately, by people who are supposed to be chasing or catching the terrorists.”
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said: “The police acted to do what they believed necessary to protect the lives of the public.
“This tragedy has added another victim to the toll of deaths for which the terrorists bear responsibility.”
I saw Tube man shot – eyewitness
A passenger has told how he saw armed police officers shoot a man dead on a Tube train at Stockwell.
Mark Whitby said: “I was sitting on the train… I heard a load of noise, people saying, ‘Get out, get down’.
“I saw an Asian guy. He ran on to the train, he was hotly pursued by three plain clothes officers, one of them was wielding a black handgun.
“He half tripped… they pushed him to the floor and basically unloaded five shots into him,” he told BBC News 24.
“As [the suspect] got onto the train I looked at his face, he looked sort of left and right, but he basically looked like a cornered rabbit, a cornered fox.
“He looked absolutely petrified and then he sort of tripped, but they were hotly pursuing him, [they] couldn’t have been any more than two or three feet behind him at this time and he half tripped and was half pushed to the floor and the policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand.
“He held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him.
Heavy coat
“He [the suspect] had a baseball cap on and quite a sort of thickish coat – it was a coat you’d wear in winter, sort of like a padded jacket.
“He might have had something concealed under there, I don’t know. But it looked sort of out of place with the sort of weather we’ve been having, the sort of hot humid weather.
“He was largely built, he was quite a chubby sort of guy.
“I didn’t see any guns or anything like that – I didn’t see him carrying anything. I didn’t even see a bag to be quite honest.
“I got into the ticket hall. I was approached by a policeman and London Underground staff asking me if I needed counselling.
“I was just basically saying I’ve just seen a man shot dead. I’ve seen a man shot dead. I was distraught, totally distraught. It was no less than five yards away from where I was sitting. I actually saw it with my own eyes.”
From the BBC news site
He was here legally. Didn’t have a bag on him. Was actually restrained by the police.
Course, now he’s dead.
Will
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