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Menezes cop kills robber
02/11/2006 17:31 - (SA)
London - One of two police officers who shot dead an innocent Brazilian suspected of being a suicide bomber last year has been involved in the fatal shooting of a suspected armed robber, the BBC reported on Thursday.
Unnamed sources were quoted as saying the firearms officer from London's Metropolitan Police who killed Jean Charles de Menezes shot a man during a call-out to an attempted bank robbery on Tuesday.
The suspect later died of his injuries in hospital.
Scotland Yard has so far only confirmed that its specialist firearms team - codenamed CO19 - which was involved in the operation in New Romney, southeast of London, included officers from the same team involved in de Menezes' death.
Inquiry
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which investigates all fatalities either directly or indirectly involving British police, has launched an inquiry into the New Romney death.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police's (Met) directorate of professional standards have also been informed.
Although still a rare event in Britain, the latest fatal shooting by police has put the death of de Menezes on July 22 last year back into the spotlight.
The 27-year-old electrician was shot seven times in the head at Stockwell Underground railway station in south London after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.
In July this year, prosecutors ruled out bringing criminal charges against the officers who fired the fatal shots, saying there was "insufficient evidence" to take the case to trial after studying an IPCC report.
That prompted accusations from the victim's family of a "cover up".
- AFP
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