LONDON, July 23 - Scotland Yard admitted Saturday that a man police officers chased and shot to death at point-blank range in front of horrified subway passengers on Friday had nothing to do with the investigation into the bombing attacks here.
Senior investigators and officials of the Metropolitan Police said the man was believed to be South American; it was not known whether he was Muslim. No explosives or weapons were found on the man's body after the shooting, police officials said.
The incident sent shock waves through the country's 1.6 million Muslims, already alarmed by a publicly acknowledged shoot-to-kill policy directed against suspected suicide bombers. And it has dealt a major setback to the police investigation into suspected terrorist cells in London.
"This really is an appalling set of circumstances," said John O'Connor, a former police commander. "The consequences are quite horrible."
Azzam Tamimi, head of the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "This is very frightening. People will be afraid to walk the streets, or go on the tube, or carry anything in their hands."
I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. Why would anyone be afraid to walk the streets if he or she is behaving in a responsible fashion? Sadly, the Brazilian man was not.
It's horrible that he was killed. Absolutely horrible. But, let's be realistic.
Reports that he didn't speak English don't change the scenario. If I was in a foreign country and didn't speak the language, I still would know enough to stop when being pursued and told by authorities to cooperate. You don't need to know the language to get that message.
He probably bolted because he was an illegal alien. That was his mistake.
I would say it's a good bet that if you aren't running from police, wearing inappropriately heavy clothing, and then boarding mass transit, you are completely safe walking the streets of London, no matter what your appearance.
...Normally British police officers are under orders to give ample warming and, if they have no choice but to open fire, to aim to wound. However, according to London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, that has given way to a shoot-to-kill policy in some circumstances.
"If you are dealing with someone who might be a suicide bomber, if they remain conscious they could trigger plastic explosives or whatever device is on them. And therefore overwhelmingly in these circumstances it is going to be a shoot-to-kill policy," he said after the shooting Friday, but before the acknowledgement by the police that the dead man was not part of the investigation. Police guidelines for dealing with suspected suicide bombers recommend shooting at the head rather than the body in case the suspect is carrying explosives.
I don't see why Friday's tragic incident should change this policy.
Of course, I'm assuming that the police will use the utmost discretion in carrying out their duties.
From what has been reported so far, it sounds to me like they did in this case.
The man would not have been killed if he had cooperated. None of this had to happen.
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