Suspected suicide bomber shot at Stockwell station.

[cori]

Have just heard an unconfirmed report on the radio. Anyone else?

as hmb says, these weren't normal police (as we would think of them)

these were special forces - specifically trained for this sort of encounter

if they suspect someone is a a potential suicide bomber they have to shoot to kill. And five shots in the head will definitely kill.

apparently he was`wearing an overcoat which was trailing wires...

Dior, I agree that young Asian men may well appear to be behaving oddly because they are just as frightened as the rest of us but also have the burden of suspicion because they 'fit the profile'. But that isn't going to stop me being nervous next week when I have to get on the train that the bombers took to London. Or when I have to get on the tube.
I'm equally scared of the police (or SAS posing as police) since this shooting. Just keep thinking of the Birmingham 6, the Guildford 4, Harry Stanley, all those people who the police 'thought' were dangerous and guilty and were actually innocent.

Starshaker, possible reasons they wouln't 'tell you everything'

There hasn't been an enquiry and they may not be able to under law (don't know but possible)

They may well be following up other connections and telling us now will alert the terrorists. I would rather wait for information and not risk tipping the rest of the terrorists off tbh

If they don't have all the information now and give out a little info they could be wrong and them people would lambast them for being misleading, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

i know im quite lucky as in i dont kive in london anymore but in a very very sleepy village in scotland but dp sis has gone down to london this morning and i still have a lot of friends down there some of which are muslim. my mate ads has been spat at in the street, people refuse to work with him and no1 goes near him on the tube and i think its sad that the bas**rds that have done the bombings have made a country that is so multi cultural so scared because of the colour of some1s skin

If he was not a percieved threat he would not have been shot, that I am sure. He would be much more useful to interrogate. And we do know that they had been chasing him. Those are facts, to me it makes sense as a plausable explanation (you might also be surprised what head injuries people can survive - gunshot wounds included).

The met have said that there had been a recent change in response to potential sucide bombers invoking a shoot to kill response. As such I think it is fair to say this is limited to a small number of potential people!

I think it is highly unlikely that today's operation was carried out by the police - I strongly suspect some kind of special forces were involved.

Every situation of this kind is poured over afterwards - even if arms are used but do not actually hit anyone. Certainly as far as the police are concerned every time arms are deployed and discharged an inquiry is invoked to ensure that teh response was appropriate to the circumstances.

HMB - there is, and has long been a policy of shoot to main and not to kill, unless there is an immediate risk to life, in which case shoot to kill has been the policy. I would imagine that today's incident would have fallen into that category. So its not just Holywood

Without wishing to get too gory or silly about it, I would imagine that someone shot once or even twice in the head could still have a couple of seconds left to detonate a bomb if they really wanted to. Five shots, not so much. IYKWIM.

It was 70 degrees in London today and he was wearing a large padded coat.

he was alledged to have been followed from a house that was under investigation following 7/7

He was told to stop moving and didn't

If it had been my dh I wouldn't have wanted him to do the old Dixon of Dock Green number.

Soapbox, not in the armed forces there isn't! As dh says you always shoot to kill

But in the current climate, if you fail to stop when ordered by armed police you are dicing with death. Especially if you fit the terrorist profile (as you would have done during IRA/INLA mainland campaigns).

Just as a point of interest, DP was told of the harry stanley case when he was training - he was the guy carrying the table leg, right? Apparently he had a police record for previous voilence. I can't remember all the details but that is something I haven't heard mentioned my the media before.

HMB - that I can understand!

DP has previously told me that the police shoot to kill. He mentioned the same again today. To be able to shoot to maime (sp) you need to be close range and CS gas may be effective as may be an asp. Besides you may very well aim for their leg and hit an artery and they bleed to death anyhow. It is a rarity that anyone is shot by police, and I do think that is only usually done in extreme circumstances.

my husband read me an eye witness account (i think from the bbc site) stating that the guy shot looked absolutely terrified like a cornered rabbit looking left and right for a means of escape then half tripped/half knocked to the floor by police who then proceeded to put 5 rounds into the guys head - haven't quoted it word for word but pretty accurate - no wonder people question the appropriate actions of the police when the means of information (ie the media) express it in this manner

They shot Harry Stanley, an innocent man, because when they shouted at him he turned round. His back was towards them when they addressed him. He turned round presumably to see what was happening, who was shouting at him - that's what I'd do if someone yelled at me, especially as a law-abiding member of the public who wouldn't actually believe that they meant me, IYSWIM.
Maybe the SAS were trailing this guy, maybe he did ignore orders to stop. I hope so, because that makes what happened understandable. But terrible mistakes have happened before.

Hadn't Harry Stanley claimed to be carrying a gun to a guy in the pub he was drinking in before the shooting. This guy then phoned the police informing them of this and that's why they arrived armed.

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I know the police said they believed he was carrying a gun, which later turned out to be a table leg in a bag. The problme is, when guns are involved police can't take chances. Unfortunately in this case, he was innocent. I live not far from where this happened.

Not sure I agree, Dior. What have they won? People are jumpy atm, but that won't last.

Dior some of us have no choice when we live there!

I don't think they have won.

people are jumpy but as long as they endevour to continue to live their lives and go about their business in as normal a way as possible then no, i don't think the terrorists have won

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No Dior they haven't won at all.

We're all allowed to feel scared but its what we do that really counts.

Most of us will continue to do the daily grind maybe making little changes a long the way, but nevertheless trecking across London as usual

I'm not sure what the prize is anyway - for them to win, they have to get the prize and I really have no idea what that is!!!!

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