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Police shoot gunman dead in the street in 'suicide by cop'
Jack Lefley and Justin Davenport30 Oct 2008
A MAN wielding two AK47-type assault rifles was shot dead by police marksmen in what witnesses claim was a "suicide by cop".
Onlookers described seeing the man point the weapons randomly at neighbours and children as he marauded through the streets of Romford.
There were also reports that he fired at armed police seconds before he was shot dead.
The 40-year-old had stormed into the street brandishing two large guns after attacking his partner in a domestic row. She was badly beaten and neighbours saw her being helped into an ambulance sobbing and covered in blood.
Police went to the house in Honeysuckle Close, Harold Hill, at 1.40pm yesterday and called in Scotland Yard's CO19 firearms squad when neighbours told them the suspect had a gun.
After the shooting police found three weapons at the scene. They are being examined to see if they were fired.
Onlookers said the man, named locally as Andy, threatened armed police when he was confronted.
Mother-of-one Oluyemisi Adenmosuw, 46, had to cower in her home.
The nurse said: "I peeked out the kitchen window and saw him holding a gun in each hand waving them around. He was shouting, 'Anywhere, any angle. F**k off. I'm going to shoot anyone I can see'.
"Then I could hear the police shouting, 'Stay in your homes. Don't come out'. I was terrified my teenage son would come back and be shot."
Another witness said the man shouted "I don't care you can shoot me I'll show her, I'll die for her" before police shouted "police, put your gun down" and shot him in the chest.
One police marksman fired several shots at the gunman, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission immediately launched an investigation but would not say if there had been an exchange of fire.
The shooting comes five months after marksmen shot dead barrister Mark Saunders, 32, after he fired at them outside his home in Chelsea. It also coincides with the inquest into the police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in 2005.
Investigators are examining the gunman's mental health history. He has not been formally named. A post mortem into his death was taking place today.
One neighbour described him as "a bit of a nutter" who was well known for being violent.
Neighbour Lucy Kingham, 17, who claimed to know the man, said: "He moved in with his girlfriend and her kids about two years ago and, apparently, he was violent towards her. He was quite stocky and had a shaved head and he was scary to look at. I think he was a bit of a weirdo, but I never thought he would do something like this."
Residents on the council estate said they heard four shots ring out at around 2.20pm, believed to be the volley fired by the police. Resident Tom Wyatt, 17, said: "He put down one of the guns and started stroking this cat in an alleyway. Then he saw us and picked the gun up and started shaking it at us. They looked like machineguns. Everyone is saying it was suicide by cop."
Another woman, who asked not to be named, said: "He had two guns, they were extremely large and very long.
"He was asking for a mobile phone and he got one from somewhere. He walked back down the alley and I heard him say, 'I'm the one in control, I'm the one with the gun. I don't care if you shoot me'.
"It was so scary. He was shouting and waving the guns around. I saw some children near him and that's when I got really frightened.
"[The police] went either side of the alleyway while he was talking on the phone, then I heard gun shots, I think there was four of them. The next thing I saw was police coming round with police dogs and they wheeled the man out on a stretcher."
Reader views (7)
Finally the police shoot someone who sounds like he was genuinely going to harm or kill other people. Altho I do believe their marksmen are trained to shoot arms and legs as opposed to killing people. Regardless of the crime, we don't actually have a death sentence in this country and certainly not one without a court trial.
- Real, London, 30/10/2008 18:31
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Minnie - looks like you're not reading the articles before commenting. You're talking about the Brazilian's shooting on the train. This one is about a guy waving guns around and trying to force the police to shoot. Just a shade different.
That's all right though, you are showing as much understanding about reality as most do when talking of police marksmen having to make life and death decisions on a moment by moment basis rather than sitting back in comfortable chairs and criticizing based upon emotional appraisal.
- Rogan, Irving, 30/10/2008 18:05
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I have no idea what Dhanraj is talking about.
It seems to me that we are now hearing the discepancies in stories.
When this first was reported I remember the shock of one or two of the passengers because they had seen a helpless man shot to death with not one but 7 bullets.
This seems to be confirmed bt the current testimony.
If this is correct then there are two major questions here.
Why, after massive confusion and no confirmation did they shoot the wrong person.
That is a leadership problem.
Secondly it seems that one (possibly more) trigger happy police were determined to shoot De Menezes even when pinned down.
Not that seems close to sociopathic behaviour to me.
Why am I so forward about this?
Because I do not trust the Government and the Met to do what is honourable and correct. A cover up could be coming.
- Minnie, London, UK, 30/10/2008 16:31
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Comments like 'Md's' do not help. I grew up in Harold Hill and to say someyhing like this is irresponsible and do not reflect the majority of hardworking, decent people who are residents. Pure snobbery.
- C, Romford, 30/10/2008 15:15
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This seems like a legitimate shooting; anyone waving guns around or shooting from a window or carrying what seems like a rifle wrapped up in brown paper or terrorists holding hostages, should be stopped with the minimum of harm to innocent people. What is not legitimate is shooting obviouly the wrong man in a tube train.
- Dhanraj, Basildon, 30/10/2008 14:07
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Lets wait for a two year inquiry into this shooting, paid by the tax payer, which will no doubt persecute and criticize the police over this shooting, like every other. Report will say the police were wrong and should have used other measures, and that this gunman was innocent law abiding citizen suffering from depression.
- Brandon Thomas, London Uk, 30/10/2008 12:12
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Angry man, with guns, in Harold Hill? What a shocker!
- Md, London, UK, 30/10/2008 12:05
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