suspected suicide bomber shot dead in tube station...

captain-spanky · Jul 22, 2005

here we go again...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4706787.stm

fadingaway1986 · Jul 22, 2005

Yes. I saw this on the news last night as I was heading to bed. I had to get up and ask my brother if it was real or not.

terri · Jul 22, 2005

Holy crap. :shock: What a story.

graigdavis · Jul 22, 2005

The few articles I read they are making the police sound really bad. Yet if they didnt shoot and the guy blew him self and everyone else up the police would be hit for not "restraining the guy".

I hate the media.

Artemis · Jul 22, 2005

I gotto agree, the police are the good guys, cut em some slack!

treehuggerhikerboy · Jul 23, 2005

wrong guy....crap, what a drag. can see both points of view...what to do?

Artemis · Jul 23, 2005

its a hard time...but I guess they have to do it...he was resisting arrest...

mygrain · Jul 23, 2005

But why not kick him into submission or knock him out. Shooting the chap is a bit harsh. It's not a justified act. Just because it's a crazy time doesn't mean we have to act crazy does it? Humans are flawed with aggression, selfishness, and ignorance. Those combined can have devastating effects.

clarinetJWD · Jul 23, 2005

I'm sorry, but someone sounds a bit idealistic. After the last subway attack, caution is absolutely necessary. He was trying to escape, and the police were too far to physically restrain him, so I don't see how they had a whole lot of choice, except for non-lethal rounds, which they didn't have time to load.

In conclusion, real threats require real force.

Jeff Canes · Jul 23, 2005

The problem is we need these people a live so we came beat truth out of them.

In the bcc link that Captain posted there is quote from a witness that clamed to be with in a few yards of shooting, the witness said They pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him If this is a fact then it was an execution IMO, In defense of the British cops, American ones would have shot him 50 times

hobbes28 · Jul 24, 2005

Two things you have to understand from a police perspective. First, this person could have another bomb on them which is like him carrying a handgun, waving it at everyone in the tube. The use of force they teach police is that you should always use the appropriate force to manage and for a gun, you need a gun. I agree with their assessment here. The second thing is what adrenaline does to a body when you are forced to pull the trigger. I bet in an interview with the police that shot the suspect, they would say that they only shot the person once. When you take a person to the point that they have to take another person's life, they are so stressed that they don't know how many shots were fired. They also have to go to counselling afterwards to help them cope with the stress.

The thing that bothers me about that is what if he wouldn't have been shot and would've blown his bomb in the tube and there was a witness to the pile up and lack of shooting? Then the police would look even worse because they let some lunatic blow up the population. It's insane that the police, who are looking out for the safety and well being of the public, get so much heat for actually being brave enough to encounter someone strapped with explosives (in their minds). I can't say that I would or wouldn't have done the same.

It's a very tragic thing to happen to anyone and I feel for the families of those affected.

LittleMan · Jul 24, 2005

This is very true hobbes,
The person who trains the SWAT/Police in the North/East part of the country is a good friend of mine, and they train them very hard.
I think that given the situation they did the right thing. But the police there put themselves into that position to have to shoot him. It said in the article that they had his house under survalence and that they saw him leave wearing a very suspicious heavy jacket that could very easily have a bomb under it.
In my oppinion they could have taken him down then and there with non-lethal force considering there were probably no civilians around to get hurt from the blast if it did happen to go off. They way the US Police are trained/how they do things... that's the way it would have happened.

Also, for us to make conclusions based off of what we know is ok... but what do we really know about all of this other than what the news tells us...

mrsid99 · Jul 24, 2005

I believe it was the London Metropolitan police that wasted the guy and even when I lived in the UK they had a really bad reputation for being a law unto themselves.
There were lots of tales circulating then (30 years ago) of the lead filled hosepipe interrogations and even witness disappearances so I don't find it at all surprising that they saved the cost of a trial, the only surprising part is that they allowed witnesses to see it and talk.

Andrea K · Jul 24, 2005

hobbes28 said:
Two things you have to understand from a police perspective. First, this person could have another bomb on them which is like him carrying a handgun, waving it at everyone in the tube. The use of force they teach police is that you should always use the appropriate force to manage and for a gun, you need a gun. I agree with their assessment here. The second thing is what adrenaline does to a body when you are forced to pull the trigger. I bet in an interview with the police that shot the suspect, they would say that they only shot the person once. When you take a person to the point that they have to take another person's life, they are so stressed that they don't know how many shots were fired. They also have to go to counselling afterwards to help them cope with the stress.

The thing that bothers me about that is what if he wouldn't have been shot and would've blown his bomb in the tube and there was a witness to the pile up and lack of shooting? Then the police would look even worse because they let some lunatic blow up the population. It's insane that the police, who are looking out for the safety and well being of the public, get so much heat for actually being brave enough to encounter someone strapped with explosives (in their minds). I can't say that I would or wouldn't have done the same.

It's a very tragic thing to happen to anyone and I feel for the families of those affected.

i agree, they're damned if they do and damned if they dont