Man Shot in London

[Jon855]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4706787.stm for the details.


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Would-be suicide bomber apparently.

 

[AT]

Originally posted by: dwell
Would-be suicide bomber apparently.

If turns out to be untrue this eyewitness report sounds like pretty bad:

"I saw an Asian guy. He ran on to the train, he was hotly pursued by three plain clothes officers, one of them was wielding a black handgun.

"He half tripped... they pushed him to the floor and basically unloaded five shots into him," he told BBC News 24.

Edited for link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4706913.stm

 

[Skiguy411]

Yeah, that would be terrible if it wasnt true....

 

[Dimkaumd]

the guy was wearing a heavy winter jacket....hmm....i wonder what gave him away

 

[PatboyX]

should probably comment more in OP otherwise, thread may get locked.

on topic: it seems like they had him down and almost in custody when they shot him five times. i guess if he was a bomber, he may have the power to detonate.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Dimkaumd
the guy was wearing a heavy winter jacket....hmm....i wonder what gave him away

Yeah, that and a bomb belt with wires sticking out of it could be considered pretty damning evidence.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: Dimkaumd
the guy was wearing a heavy winter jacket....hmm....i wonder what gave him away

Yeah, that and a bomb belt with wires sticking out of it could be considered pretty damning evidence.

If it was truly a bomb belt, and not just some techie nerd with a bunch of gadgets on his belt, e.g., an iPod and cell phone with wired headsets.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Bowfinger

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: Dimkaumd
the guy was wearing a heavy winter jacket....hmm....i wonder what gave him away

Yeah, that and a bomb belt with wires sticking out of it could be considered pretty damning evidence.

If it was truly a bomb belt, and not just some techie nerd with a bunch of gadgets on his belt, e.g., an iPod and cell phone with wired headsets.

Maybe that would explain why he was running. He didn't want the cops to steal his iPod.

 

[Bitek]

One way to get around that no-death penalty thing there. Too bad, he deserved a lot worse than that.

 

[Aimster]

uhm..

chances are he had mental problems and was trying to mess with people.

Who is stupid enough to wear a heavy coat and not expect to be stopped?

 

[Icepick]

It's a true story all right. I heard this on NPR news just a moment ago. It's highly unusual for police to shoot and kill a crime suspect once they have him on the ground. These guys thought the perpetrator posed a serious enough risk that it was necessary to terminate him right there on the spot. If he wasn't really a suicide bomber then why lead them on a chase through the tube? The police would not risk their careers, let alone risk going to jail for the rest of their lives for nothing.

I do find it interesting that this appears to be another bombing attempt only a day after the last one. That's not their usual M.O. How long has it been since that bomb on the train in Spain? It seems to take these fools at least one to two years to regroup after a bombing event.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: icepik
It's a true story all right. I heard this on NPR news just a moment ago. It's highly unusual for police to shoot and kill a crime suspect once they have him on the ground.

These guys thought the perpetrator posed a serious enough risk that it was necessary to terminate him right there on the spot.

If he wasn't really a suicide bomber then why lead them on a chase through the tube? The police would not risk their careers, let alone risk going to jail for the rest of their lives for nothing.

I do find it interesting that this appears to be another bombing attempt only a day after the last one. That's not their usual M.O. How long has it been since that bomb on the train in Spain? It seems to take these fools at least one to two years to regroup after a bombing event.

Mad Max arrives to the UK first.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: Bowfinger

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: Dimkaumd
the guy was wearing a heavy winter jacket....hmm....i wonder what gave him away

Yeah, that and a bomb belt with wires sticking out of it could be considered pretty damning evidence.

If it was truly a bomb belt, and not just some techie nerd with a bunch of gadgets on his belt, e.g., an iPod and cell phone with wired headsets.

Maybe that would explain why he was running. He didn't want the cops to steal his iPod.

You don't have to be an asshat about everything. There are many reasons someone might run from the police. Maybe he had an outstanding warrant, maybe he was just afraid, maybe he stole a purse ... or maybe he was wearing a bomb.

My point was that it would be tragic if this was just a case of mistaken identify, that someone saw a belt with wires and assumed it was a bomb. That said, under the circumstances, I think the London police reacted properly in chasing a suspicious person who ran from them. I also think there's a good chance that shooting him was probably justified to protect both the public and themselves. The police have legitimate reason to suspect danger; anyone who chooses to run in that situation risks his own life. Proper, but tragic nonetheless.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

More on the story:

BBC Home affairs correspondent Margaret Gilmore said officers had challenged a known suspect they had been following.

"He ran, they followed him. They say they gave him a warning, they then shot him.

"They brought in the air ambulance. They did everything they can to revive him. He died at the scene."

Police had warned they would shoot to kill if they believed somebody to be a threat, she added.

BBC crime correspondent Neil Bennett said the suspect was being followed as a result of CCTV footage seen by officers investigating Thursday's explosions.

It could be a case of mistaken identity, but it's looking less and less likely as more information comes out.

 

[imported_hscorpio]

Do most London police officers carry guns? I thought they didn't, untill now.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: hscorpio
Do most London police officers carry guns? I thought they didn't, untill now.

Same here. I was under the impression that they didn't.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: hscorpio
Do most London police officers carry guns? I thought they didn't, untill now.

Same here. I was under the impression that they didn't.

I believe I remember hearing that after the first bombing, Tube cops would be carrying automatics.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: werk

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: hscorpio
Do most London police officers carry guns? I thought they didn't, untill now.

Same here. I was under the impression that they didn't.

I believe I remember hearing that after the first bombing, Tube cops would be carrying automatics.

Good. Pretty hard to stop a suicide bomber with a billy club.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Aimster
uhm..

chances are he had mental problems and was trying to mess with people.

Who is stupid enough to wear a heavy coat and not expect to be stopped?

So, are you saying that b/c he may have fit the suicide bomber profile perfectly, the police should not have bothered him? Next, you'll be advocating stopping elderly woman in wheelchairs.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Aimster
uhm..

chances are he had mental problems and was trying to mess with people.

Who is stupid enough to wear a heavy coat and not expect to be stopped?

So, are you saying that b/c he may have fit the suicide bomber profile perfectly, the police should not have bothered him? Next, you'll be advocating stopping elderly woman in wheelchairs.

He's wearing a heavy coat in the middle of July. Try it the next time you go to DC for the 4th of July.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Aimster
uhm..

chances are he had mental problems and was trying to mess with people.

Who is stupid enough to wear a heavy coat and not expect to be stopped?

So, are you saying that b/c he may have fit the suicide bomber profile perfectly, the police should not have bothered him? Next, you'll be advocating stopping elderly woman in wheelchairs.

He's wearing a heavy coat in the middle of July. Try it the next time you go to DC for the 4th of July.

Why are you quoting me?

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: joshsquall

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Aimster
uhm..

chances are he had mental problems and was trying to mess with people.

Who is stupid enough to wear a heavy coat and not expect to be stopped?

So, are you saying that b/c he may have fit the suicide bomber profile perfectly, the police should not have bothered him? Next, you'll be advocating stopping elderly woman in wheelchairs.

He's wearing a heavy coat in the middle of July. Try it the next time you go to DC for the 4th of July.

Why are you quoting me?

It just felt right.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: PatboyX
should probably comment more in OP otherwise, thread may get locked.

on topic: it seems like they had him down and almost in custody when they shot him five times. i guess if he was a bomber, he may have the power to detonate.

Negative. If he had the power to detonate, then why didn't he rather than lead the police on a chase? There are 2 possible answers which seem most likely to me. 1) he had no bomb or 2) he had a bomb but was unable to detonate it at will (on a timer).
But it seems to me if he had the power to detonate the bomb willingly, he would have rather than risk capture. Or maybe a third possibility is he was just a wierdo with a heavy coat who couldn't speak English and was afraid for his life. Ironically as events turned out, he was right to fear for his life. He could have also been trying to commit suicide by police as some people do. Or maybe he was just really a bomber who got caught. Time will tell I guess. I'm leaning toward him having been up to something no good.

 

[irwincur]

You don't have to be an asshat about everything. There are many reasons someone might run from the police. Maybe he had an outstanding warrant, maybe he was just afraid, maybe he stole a purse ... or maybe he was wearing a bomb.

Sorry, but this is the wrong time to be wearing a winter coat with wires hanging out of it. Not to mention running through a station.

If this guy was joking, he still deserved to get shot. I suspect he was not, and he got exactly what he deserved.



Onto the real subject. It seems as if there was a series of planned events and there may be more coming. The explosives in the second attempt did seem to match those in the first. So Britain has some real issues with a possibly large group of militants.

Time for them to actually start cracking down. Even Musharref (sp) told Blair that it is time that Britain looks inside for their problems. Granted, a lot of the bombers are trained in Pakistan, but there is definitely a support network in Britain - a strong one at that.

Europe needs to be on alert. I suspect that these types of attacks will begin occuring all over the place. Europe for too long has allowed too many Mulsims in while not attempting at all to help them assimilate.

That is the one thing the US does have going for it. Muslim immigrants do well here on average, and assimilate well. Successful people are usually much less willing to blow themselves up. This is a reason why Al Queda has had a difficult time actually recruiting insiders here - every known attempt has been met with failure.