Watchdog launches probe after armed Met officers kill a man in London incident
Armed police have shot a man dead during an incident in Kensington.
The police watchdog is investigating what happened in west London on the afternoon of Saturday 11 December. The man died after he sustained gunshot wounds.
Three shots
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to reports of a man with a firearm seen entering a bank and bookmakers near Marloes Road at 3.04pm.
The force said the man was then seen getting into a vehicle and leaving the area.
At 3.19pm, armed officers stopped a vehicle at the junction of Kensington Road and Palace Gate next to Kensington Gardens.
Reports suggest officers shot at the man, fatally injuring him. According to the Met, the officers fired shots and “a man sustained gunshot wounds”, adding:
The London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance were called and the man was treated at the scene.
Police said that despite the efforts of the emergency services, he was pronounced dead at 4.08pm.
Witnesses heard three shots, according to reports.
Inquiry
The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed. And the incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The IOPC confirmed it has begun an investigation, with a spokesperson adding:
After being notified of the incident… we sent investigators to the scene and the post-incident procedure to start gathering evidence
Police said efforts are underway to confirm the man’s identity and inform his next of kin.
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Although society (including me) needs law-enforcers to protect the law-abiding and vulnerable people, I believe that to have a reasonable idea of how law-enforcers will behave, one must understand what underlying nature/desire motivated them to their profession to start with. Maybe many law enforcers target/acquire such authoritative fields of employment mainly for ‘power’ reasons, though perhaps subconsciously.
It is, after all, a profession in which, besides the basic tackle and/or handcuffing, adrenalin-pumped employees might storm into suspects’ homes, screaming, with fully-automatic machineguns or handguns drawn, at the homes’ occupants, all of whom, including infants, can be permanently traumatized from the experience. Occasionally the law-enforcers force their way into the wrong home, altogether; that is when open-fire can and does occur, followed by wrongful deaths to be ‘impartially’ investigated.
Many, if not most, of us as children have fantasized about, and even planned for, a future as law enforcers in some form or another. But almost all of us, probably sooner than later, grew out of that dream, as it wasn’t reflective of our nature. Those who deliberately get into such professions of potential or actual physical authority might do some honest soul-searching as to truly why. (As an intensely focused/self-critical introvert, I know I definitely would.) Although that may sound cynical, I believe there is much truth to it. It must also be kept in mind that there are people who leave law-enforcement professions after witnessing serious misconduct within.