London

[Glaswegian]

Indeed, no holds barred now.

Just hope I don't get a parking ticket - I shudder to think what the penalty will be......

 

[litrelord]

Ken Livingstone will no doubt want to use this approach for people trying to avoid the congestion charge as well.

 

[Glaswegian]

What I don't understand is how you can shoot someone, in the head, from point blank range, 5 times. Don't want to sound overly gruesome here, but they must have been struggling to find a target for the last couple of shots? One of my colleagues claims that the police use a 9mm Browning semi-automatic (although how he came by that information is unclear) but since my knowledge of firearms is non-existant, I don't know what damage such a gun would cause.

 

[Oorang]

Actually the article just said they are TRAINED to shoot for the head if the person is carrying explosives. Not that they succeded. I thought UK police did not carry firearms?

 

[Glaswegian]

Oorang

From the article

A man has been shot dead by armed officers at Stockwell Tube station, as police hunt four would-be bombers.
Passenger Mark Whitby told BBC News he had seen a man of Asian appearance shot five times by "plain-clothes police officers" with a handgun.

"I saw the gun being fired five times into the guy - he is dead," he said.

UK police don't normally carry guns. There are specially trianed officers who can use guns when the situation allows, but they normally require authorisation from a very Senior Officer before they are actually allowed to fire.

 

[litrelord]

Does make you wonder though. Shooting him 5 times without shooting at the torso. Unless he was shot in the leg(s) first and then the head. But it said they were already on top of him when they shot. 5 times in the head would surely be much more than was necessary (as would 3 times). Not that I'm condoning anyone being shot. If there are mistaken identities then it's going to cause a lotof problems though.

 

[Glaswegian]

If there are mistaken identities then it's going to cause a lot of problems though.

Well quite.

Shooting at the torso may set off explosives wrapped around the body and I guess that, by aiming for the head, they are trying to stop the person setting off the explosives. Not much good though if they are holding some kind of trigger anyway. Even with being shot in the head I would have thought that there would still be some kind of involuntary nervous reaction?

 

[just_jon]

The standard procedure is a "double-tap" - twice in the head.

Might have been > 1 man firing, or one man firing very rapidly...

Or, maybe he just got caught up in the moment.

But assuming a 9mm. then there's not much left that wouldn't fit into a small soup bowl.

 

[Glaswegian]

But assuming a 9mm. then there's not much left that wouldn't fit into a small soup bowl.

Mmm...that's what I thought (or tried NOT to think about...).

 

[litrelord]

Well the report (as it stands at the moment) says one handgun but more than one policeman so just one person firing. Unless they took turns of course.