ooops, i did it again
~~ britney spears
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Man shot in terror hunt was innocent young Brazilian
Tony Thompson Gaby Hinsliff and Alexandre Xavier
Sunday July 24, 2005
The Observer
A young Brazilian man, living and working in London as
an electrician, emerged last night as the innocent
victim shot dead by police in their hunt for the
suicide bombers targeting the capital.
The dead man, killed at Stockwell tube station on
Friday after fleeing from armed police, was named as
27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes. His body was
identified by Alex Pereira, a cousin who lives in
London and who afterwards told The Observer: 'I can't
believe they shot him, because he was not a terrorist.
He was an honest man.
'We [the family] are still too shocked to talk about
it. But I am sure [that] he didn't do anything wrong.
It was not right for the police to do that.'
Pereira said that the most upsetting part of
identifying his cousin was 'to see bullet wounds in
his back and his neck when I went to the mortuary in
Greenwich.'
The Brazilian government last night voiced 'shock and
surprise,' saying that it had always sought the
'eradication of the misery' of terror 'within
international norms and respect for human rights.'
The statement added that Brazilian Foreign Minister
Celso Amorim, due in London on a previously scheduled
visit for a UN reform conference, would be seeking a
meeting with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for
'clarifications about the death.'
Originally from the city of Gonzaga in Minas Gerais
state in south-east Brazil, Menezes, who was
unmarried, had been living in London for three years.
He appears to have lived in a house in Scotia Road,
Tulse Hill, south London, which had been under
surveillance since the four failed bomb attacks on the
city's tube and bus system last Thursday.
Scotland Yard said last night that Menezes 'was not
connected to incidents in central London on 21 July in
which four explosive devices were partly detonated. An
inquest will be opened to acknowledge formal
identification and adjourned, awaiting the outcome of
the investigation into the circumstances surrounding
the death.'
An earlier Metropolitan Police statement described
Menezes as the innocent victim of a tragic mistake.
Soon after being followed from the Tulse Hill house by
plainclothes officers watching the address, he lay
dead on the platform at Stockwell station from
multiple gunshot wounds. Menezes had failed to obey
orders from armed officers to stop.
His death will cause controversy over the way Britain
confronts suicide bombers, and has prompted calls for
a public inquiry. In its first statement yesterday,
the Metropolitan Police Service expressed 'regret'
over his death.
'We are now satisfied that he was not connected with
the incidents of Thursday, 21 July 2005,' it said.
'For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances
is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police
service regrets.'
Downing Street and Home Office sources last night
declined to comment. But Ken Livingstone, London's
Mayor, said the 'human tragedy' should be laid at the
door of the terrorists.
'All Londoners will wish to offer their condolences to
this man's family and friends,' he 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.'
The Muslim Council of Great Britain warned last night
that the 'terrible, tragic mistake' could have serious
consequences. 'We got lots of hostile emails saying:
"How dare you criticise the police?" - and now we hear
that he is innocent,' said media secretary Inayat
Bunglawala.
'We of course understand the police are under a great
deal of pressure and it's a race against time to
capture these four suspected bombers. But it is
absolutely vital that their rules of engagement
arevery, very stringent and that this terrible mistake
does not occur again.'
He said the police needed to encourage public
confidence and co-operation from Muslims and others.
'For that co-operation to occur, the police also need
to be seen to be making every possible endeavour to
ensure they are going after the right people.'
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which
automatically examines fatal police firearms
incidents, confirmed it was investigating.
Scotland Yard said last night that an unspecified
number of officers had been taken off firearms duties
following the incident, which is standard practice
after a weapon has been discharged. The officers are
still at work on normal police duties.
Armed officers are instructed to shoot at the head,
not the chest, when facing a suspected suicide bomber,
to disable them faster. The change follows advice from
the Israeli police.
Witnesses to Friday's shooting told of the terror on
the man's face. Mark Whitby, a passenger who was
sitting just yards away, said the man was 'hotly
pursued' on to the train, adding: 'I looked at his
face. He looked from left to right, but he basically
looked like a cornered rabbit, like a cornered fox. He
looked absolutely petrified ... It was a very, very
distressing scene to watch, and to hear as well... I
saw them kill a man.'
Whitby last night told The Observer: 'The death of
anyone, involed [in terrorism] or not, to me is
abhorrent.'
Ken Jones, chief constable of Sussex and chair of the
Association of Chief Police Officers' committee on
terrorism and allied matters, appealed to the public
yesterday to 'put themselves into the shoes' of
officers. Dozens of firearms officers have been
trained in confronting suicide bombers since 11
September and undercover officers regularly travel on
trains. 'It is not a perfect science,' he said. 'I
would ask the public to try to put themselves into the
shoes of the officers, often young men and women, and
understand how difficult these cases are.
'They have to be prepared to take a life knowing that
if they fail to do so, the cost could be hundreds of
lives. We have dreaded this day for years, but it is
now an operational reality on the streets of Britain.'
He said officers had to intervene at an earlier stage
when facing 'people intent on mass murder'.
The address in Tulse Hill was identified from
materials found inside the bombers' unexploded
rucksacks on Thursday and was immediately put under
surveillance by officers When Menezes, dressed in
baseball cap, blue fleece and baggy trousers, emerged
from it at around 10am on Friday, he was followed.
When he headed for the nearby tube station, officers
decided to arrest him. An armed unit took over,
ordering him to stop. He did not. His unseasonally
thick jacket apparently prompted concern that he had
explosives strapped beneath.
Witnesses said the man jumped the ticket barriers and
was chased into the station, where he half-tripped
boarding a train. He was allegedly pushed to the floor
by armed police, then, according to eyewitnesses, an
officer fired five shots into his head.
Police quickly discovered he did not have a bomb, but
it was not until yesterday that he was cleared of any
involvement.
Officers are trained to look for 'precursor
activities' indicating a suicide bomber about to
detonate his explosive, thought to include a look of
agitation combined with a sense of disconnection from
the world. The Met said Menezes' 'clothing and
behaviour' caused concerns.
Massoud Shadjareh, of the Islamic Human Rights
Commission, also called for a full public inquiry.
'How can you shoot someone on mere suspicion?', he
said. 'You can't even put someone in prison on
suspicion.'
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday said that the
shooting suggested that a 'shoot-to-kill' policy was
in operation, and suggested it would increase the
threat of further attacks.
'I cannot believe that this degree of violence is
going to do anything but encourage more violence from
aggrieved people in this country and around the
world.'
Allegations of 'shoot-to-kill' policies are highly
emotive following the scandal over tactics used by
police in Northern Ireland.
Graham Brodie, a barrister who specialises in criminal
law, said there should now be an investigation by
another police force into whether any criminal charges
should be laid against any officer for murder or
manslaughter. However, Brodie doubted that any
officers would be prosecuted.
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