not again...

apparent suicide bomber shot today by police.

 

Just read about that, they've shot a guy 5 times at close range just as he was about to get on the tube, reports say he's dead.

I think some did try to get hold of them yesterday but I think the shock of it all must effect your reaction times. The worse thing about them still being on the run is they've nothing to lose now so Id say its likely they'll have another go. Ive no idea what the answer to this one is.

 

yeah, I'd be so angry as he would have tried to kill me - mearly be trying to set the bomb off close to me...

more news about the shooting here -

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

a quote from it says -
"Mr Whitby, told BBC News: "I was sitting on the train reading my paper.

"I heard a load of noise, people saying, 'Get out, get down'!

"I saw an Asian guy run onto the train hotly pursued by three plain-clothes police officers.

"One of them 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.

"I saw the gun being fired five times into the guy - he's dead."

Passenger Briony Coetsee said: "We were on the Tube and then we suddenly heard someone say, 'Get out, get out' and then we heard gunshots."

bloke probably had a lump of ganja on him and legged it...

 

So, we've reached the point where the British Police carry out summary executions have we? If he was on the floor and they were on top of him it's going to be very, very difficult to justify the shootings. If it really went down like that, those cops will have some explaining to do.

Now for those of you who'd like to respond with "F*cking terrorist, deserves to be killed" and other such opinions, remember that in the UK people are innocent until proven guilty and that proving someone guilty happens as the result of a fair trial. If that's gone out the window then the terrorists have already won

Michael.

 

Dont talk wet.
Do you really believe they would of randomly shot someone for the hell of it?
Most news sources are reporting that the officers anounced who they were but the suspect kept going.
Police have been told to shoot to kill if they suspect the person may detonate a device.

Ofcourse, we could all be lilly livered and let people blow up trains

 

If it can be shown that the guy was about to detonate a bomb then I'd have to reluctantly agree that the police had no other choice. Otherwise there's going to be hell to pay.

It's nothing to do with being lilly livered, it's about the fundamental freedoms that we have in the UK. Are you really ready to throw those away so readily?

Michael.

 

They shot some bloke carrying a table leg, and another who was naked in bed, plus several years ago there was the bloke almost shot dead because he resembled a criminal on the run. Don't blame them for being over-careful if there was the risk of the person they shot setting off a bomb, but surely even from a non-moral, pragmatic point of view he would be of more use alive than dead?

 

Michael, Im glad you've said that but I can help thinking the witness is getting abit over-excited. It reads like the police held him down and unloaded into him, Id be very very surprised if this was the case and knowing a few armed response officers its all sounds abit NY ganster to me. Then again maybe its totally true and these guys have afree license, hope not coz I wouldnt want them in the force.

 

No i am not, but i am not prepared to let terrorist threats run my life either.
As i am sure you know, armed police in the uk are very well trained. If they shoot someone there is a full inquiry and often they are suspended. With that in mind I suspect they had good evidence to support their acts.
I dont understand why you would 'reluctantly' agree, if he was about to detonate a bomd it is a damn good thing he was killed.

Or would you rather many innocent commuters get injured or killed?

 

Thats alot of intelligence lost if they have just shot that guy. I guess they'll be hot on the heels of the ones that got away yesterday so hopefully we'll find out who's behind all this pretty soon.
I hope for everyones sake that the guy on the tube does turn out to have a few k's of C4 in his bag. If its just his packed lunch then its a disaster.
Its certainly worrying times at the moment but the press doesn't help. On the ITN news the other day they had an interview with a Muslim leader who was asked whether he condemned the bombings. He said he did but we must also condemn whats going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. A fair point well made. ITN summed it up afterwards by saying "Muslim leader refuses to unrservedly codemn the London bombers". Well done ITN.

 

Id be more inclined to think theres alot more happened in the run-up and Id say theres evidence of the bombers detonating the bombs themselves. I have no problems with this action if theres evidence (Ive no doubt they were pretty sure about this) but I just cant believe theyd carry out a gangland style killing. Surely he'd be more use to them alive and so if they had him pinned down why shoot him?

 

i would have thought they shot him to eliminate any possibility of him detonating his bomb.

 

As a pacifist I'm not comfortable with condoning the killing of anyone allthough if the person was about to detonate a bomb it's difficult to see any alternative course of action. Clearly, it's better that one guy gets killed than a whole load of people. What would be even better is if no one gets killed, if possible.

Michael.

 

Michael, unfortunatly due to human nature that is not possible.

 

more news.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4705419.stm

 

I think you will find that a member of the police or armed services who uses his weapon to kill a person is still subjected to the law of the land and that members of the armed services or police have to follow well documented "rules of engegement" when opening fire for any reason at all. I would expect any killing will be examined by a Coroner's Court and the court will decide if the killing was lawful or not. Now people may well moan about the lenght of time this process takes but it is a process that is designed to find the truth about a killing and has served the Country well for the past few hundred years and I for one am willing to wait until I hear what they have to say before jumping to conclusions about the killing.

 

The armed response officers I know are automatically suspended from active duty pending an enquiry.

 

i suspect that that might be waived in these circumstances

 

the website has been updated with more eye-witness accounts

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

If the eye witnesses are correct, then a lot of lives could have been saved.

 

More info on "shoot to kill" policy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4707781.stm

As is speculated in the article, it seems unlikely that it was the police who did the shooting, more likely special forces, possibly even SAS?

Michael.