LONDON BOMBING - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
Timeline: Tube shooting |
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from BBC
Entered into the database on Wednesday, August 17th, 2005 @ 12:55:40 MST |
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As leaked documents appear to throw new light on the mistaken shooting of Jean
Charles de Menezes, BBC News Website looks at the passage of events which led
to his death and what followed. 21 July: Two weeks after suicide bombs rocked London, the
capital is again targeted London's transport network is plunged into chaos with stations cleared after
attempted bombings on Tube trains at Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd's Bush
Underground stations and on a number 26 bus in Bethnal Green. A manhunt is launched for four men suspected of attempting the bombings, later
named as Yassin Hassan Omar, Ibrahim Muktar Said, Ramzi Mohamed and Osman Hussain.
22 July: Police have been monitoring a flat in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, south
London, which they believe is linked to the failed bombings. At 0930 BST John Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old Brazilian electrician, is
seen walking to a bus stop and boarding a bus heading to Stockwell Tube station.
Despite initial reports he was wearing a padded coat, leaked papers
suggest Mr de Menezes is in a light denim jacket. According to a leaked report officers believe his "description and demeanour"
matches one of two terror suspects, including the alleged Shepherd's Bush would-be
bomber Osman Hussain. One surveillance officer at the Tulse Hill address says he "checked
the photographs" and thinks it is "worth someone else having a look".
He is quoted in the leaked report saying that he was unable to transmit
his observations and turn on his video camera at the same time. "I was
in the process of relieving myself." After information is passed through the operations centre, gold command instructs
that the suspect be stopped from getting on the Tube. The operation is moved to "code red tactic" and handed over to CO19.
By 1000 BST CCTV footage shows Mr de Menezes entering the Tube station
at a "normal walking pace". Early accounts of the shooting had described him vaulting over the
ticket barriers, running to the Tube train and tripping over before being shot
- but leaked evidence states that CCTV pictures show him picking up a free newspaper
and slowly descending on an escalator. He is then said to have run across the concourse to catch a train, boarded,
looked left and right and then sat down on the first available seat. At that point, armed officers are "provided with positive identification",
the document says. Following shouts including the word "police", Mr de Menezes
gets up and advances towards the CO19 officers, a surveillance officer is quoted
to have said. A member of the surveillance team describes grabbing him and holding
him down. According to the report, he said: "I grabbed the male in the denim
jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side.
"I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously
sitting...I then heard a gun shot very close to my left ear and was dragged
away on to the floor of the carriage." Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, according
to the post-mortem examination. Three other bullets missed their target. By 1050 BST news of the shooting breaks in the media. Reports emerge that a suspected suicide bomber has been shot at Stockwell Tube.
One eyewitness says he saw about 20 police officers, some of them armed,
rushing into the station before a man jumped over the barriers with police giving
chase. Another witness said the victim looked Pakistani and was wearing a
thick winter coat. He described him as looking like a "cornered fox" as he was
"hotly pursued". The witness said he half tripped and was then shot five times in the
head. At 1150 BST Scotland Yard confirms that the man shot at Stockwell station died
at the scene. At 1600 BST Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair says during a press
conference that the shooting was "directly linked" to anti-terror
operations. 23 July: At 1700 BST Scotland Yard says the victim was not
connected to attempted terror attacks on the capital. A spokeswoman said: "For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances
is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets." It is announced that the death is being investigated by officers from the Metropolitan
Police Directorate of Professional Standards and will be referred to the Independent
Police Complaints Commission. At 2130 BST Scotland Yard confirms the identity of the victim. 25 July: At 1030 BST Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair
apologises to Mr de Menezes' family but says there will be no change to the
police's "shoot-to-kill" policy. That afternoon Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is "desperately sorry"
about the death of an innocent person. An inquest in London hears Mr de Menezes was shot eight times. 26 July: Protests are staged in Mr de Menezes' home town of
Gonzaga, Brazil, in anger at his shooting. They demand arrests are made. 27 July: Four cousins of Mr de Menezes hold a press conference
in London demanding an end to the "shoot-to-kill" policy. One of them Vivien Figueiredo, says she has been told by police her relative
was wearing a denim jacket at the time of the shooting and had used his travel
card to get through the station. 28 July: Mr de Menezes' body is flown home to south-eastern
Brazil. The Home Office announces his visa expired two years ago, a move which is later
criticised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick says: "It's entirely irrelevant information.
I'm rather surprised the Home Office should issue it." 29 July: The funeral is held of Jean Charles de Menezes in
his home town Gonzaga. To coincide, in London a vigil is held in Parliament Square followed by a Requiem
Mass at Westminster Cathedral. 2 August: Tony Blair is reported to have called the President
of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to express his regrets for the killing and
give assurances that there will be an independent probe into the shooting. 17 August: Documents from the IPPC are leaked to ITV news
apparently discrediting earlier reports of the shooting. Mr de Menezes' family again call for the "shoot-to-kill" policy to
be suspended and for a public inquiry. |