Nothing suspect about suspect

2005-08-17 07:38

London - An innocent Brazilian man shot dead by British police who mistook him for a London bombing suspect had taken a seat on a train and was tackled by a police surveillance officer before being shot, according to an account of events broadcast on Tuesday.

British police had claimed that 27-year-old electrician Jean Charles de Menezes didn't obey an order to stop as they tailed him into London's Stockwell underground train station a day after a series of bombs planted on London's transit system failed to fully detonate.

De Menezes had emerged from a house that police had under surveillance, believing it was linked to the bombings.

'Entered station at normal pace'

Britain's ITV television news claimed on Tuesday, citing security footage, that de Menezes entered the station at a normal walking pace, stopping to pick up a newspaper.

The television station claimed that witness accounts, included in an investigation report into the shooting, said de Menezes was seated on the train before being shot.

A man sitting opposite de Menezes is quoted as saying: "Within a few seconds I saw a man coming into the double doors to my left.

Small black handgun

"He was pointing a small black handgun towards a person sitting opposite me. He pointed the gun at the right hand side of the man's head. The gun was within 12 inches of the man's head when the first shot was fired."

A police surveillance officer described how he wrapped his arms around de Menezes and pushed him down into a seat.

"I grabbed the male in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side.

"I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting... I then heard a gun shot very close to my left ear and was dragged away onto the floor of the carriage."

The report obtained by ITV said while de Menezes was shot eight times, a further three bullets were fired but missed. ITV said the documents came from an official investigation into de Menezes' death.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, who have been charged with investigating the shooting, refused on Tuesday to comment on the veracity of the documents.

"We do not know from which organisation or from whom the documents shown on television this evening have come," the commission said in a statement.

"The IPCC made it clear that we would not speculate or release partial information about the investigation, and that others should not do so."

Metropolitan Police said they could not make any comment while the police complaints commission investigation was ongoing.

- AP