Posted on 07/24/2005 6:11:57 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair has apologised to the family of the Brazilian man shot dead by police in south London on Friday.
He said the death of Jean Charles de Menezes was a "tragedy", but admitted more people could be shot as police hunt suspected suicide bombers.
The 27-year-old electrician's family condemned the shooting and said there was no reason to suspect him.
Brazil's foreign minister said his country was "shocked" by the shooting.
Scotland Yard confirmed on Saturday that Mr Menezes, who lived in Brixton, south London, was completely unconnected to Thursday's attempted bombings on three Tube trains and a bus.
Two men have been arrested and are still being questioned.
Police carried out controlled explosions on Sunday on a suspect package found in north-west London which may be linked to the failed attacks.
Armed officers' dilemma
Speaking on Sky News, Sir Ian said: "This is a tragedy. The Metropolitan Police accepts full responsibility for this. To the family I can only express my deep regrets."
He said there was no reason the believe the four men sought over the failed bombings - whose images caught on CCTV were released on Friday - had left the country.
He acknowledged that "somebody else could be shot" as the hunt continued, but added "everything is done to make it right".
But he said the "shoot to kill" policy for dealing with suspected suicide bombers would remain in force.
"There is no point in shooting at someone's chest because that is where the bomb is likely to be," he said.
"There is no point in shooting anywhere else if they fall down and detonate it."
'Tragedy'
Mr Menezes's family is struggling to come to terms with the circumstances surrounding Mr Menezes' death.
JEAN CHARLES DE MENEZES
Born 07/01/78, a Brazilian national
Originally from the city of Gonzaga, 500 miles northeast of Sao Paulo in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais in Brazil
Lived in Brixton, London for three years, working as an electrician
Family mourn police victim
His cousin, Alex Alves Pereira, from London, told the BBC: "Apologies are not enough. I believe my cousin's death was result of police incompetence."
Describing his cousin as a "person full of life" he said his cousin was "a victim of government's mistakes".
He said Mr Menezes was from the city of Gonzaga in Minas Gerais state and had lived in London legally for over three years.
Mr Menezes' grandmother, Zilda Ambrosia de Figueiredo, told Globo TV "there was no reason to think he was a terrorist".
'Shocked and perplexed'
Brazil's foreign minister Celso Amorim met officials at the Foreign Office in London on Sunday to seek an explanation for the shooting.
"The Brazilian government and the public are shocked and perplexed that a peaceful and innocent person should have been killed," he said.
"Brazil is totally in solidarity with Britain in the fight against terror but people should be cautious to avoid the loss of innocent life."
He said he spoke by phone with foreign secretary Jack Straw, who promised a full investigation into the death.
"I said that was very important. We can't recover the life of the Brazilian citizen who has been killed, but we can discover the details."
Mr Amorim is due to meet Mr Straw in person on Monday evening.
The BBC's correspondent in Brazil, Tom Gibb, said Mr Menezes had lived for a time in a slum district of Sao Paulo and that could explain why he had run from the police.
He said: "The murder rates in some of these slums are worse than in a lot of war zones and that could explain why, when plain clothes officers pulled a gun on him, he may have run away."
The shooting is being investigated by officers from Scotland Yard's Directorate of Professional Standards, and will be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Government minister Peter Hain said the threat of suicide bombings had put police under "enormous pressure", but added that they were acting responsibly.
Suspicious package
Searches are continuing in the area where a package was found by a member of the public in bushes in Little Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday.
The package has been removed for forensic examination after several controlled explosions.
Officers raided a house in Streatham on Saturday Anti-Terrorist Branch head DAC Peter Clarke said: "The object appears to have been left in the bushes, rather than hidden. I would urge the public to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious items or activity."
Officers are also still searching an address raided on Saturday in Streatham Hill, south London, in connection with the failed attacks.
Meanwhile the News of the World newspaper has offered a £100,000 reward to catch the second wave of London bombers.
Look, the "middle-eastern" looking members of my family aren't middle-eastern.
Thei point is, with limited functional resources, go with the probabilities.
Wrong. They didn't know he was unarmed. They did know that if he was wired with a bomb, he could set it off unless they killed him--not just wounding him (he would still set it off), but killing him. Experts who've worked around terrorists a lot in places like Israel know that the only way to stop a suicide bomber is to shoot him in the head, and do it more than once.
I would suspect that this guy had some kind of illegal activity going on...perhaps drugs or a computer hacker. There must be a reason to just keep running.
Dead man switch
"You have to consider he was from Brazil where the muggers and police do not behave like they do in the US or Britain. "
I guess he just wasn't assimilated well enough. I'm sorry for the man's death, it was tragic. Brtain has one of the most benign police cultures in the world. If this guy had been shot in Russia or China or Nigeria you wouldn't have heard a peep out of the news media. They are piling on because they know the Brits will get re-faced and apologize profusely and then cough up some money that the relatives back in Brazil can retire on.
Either that, or someone supplying them with items for wiring bombs.
You are right, initially it was reported that the guy came out of that terrorist safe house...and then he ran...imagine if he were a terrorist and managed to detonate another bomb in London...
Then if he was really a suicide bomber, he would have set it off then and there, not RUN!
An electrician? Coming from a house where 4 bombs were miswired?
Hmmmm...
So.... suppose, suppose he went back to his pad and realized he had made friends with a terrorist. When he saw police in the area of his apartment, he wanted to just get away. He would now be on the run from both the good guys and the bad guys and in todays world....sometimes you're just not sure. If they yelled police, stop....why did he still run? Maybe he wasn't convinced who they were? Something missing??? Yeh....
Good DU talking points, but they don't fly. You don't KNOW what he would have done, and won't until you strap on your own little vest for your cause.
Well anyway, we’ll continue with this interesting discussion later. I need to go to lunch.
Look, I’m not pretending to have the answers. I’m sitting here guessing like everybody else.
It will be interesting when we get to the bottom of this.
Atta's father said the same thing.
1) how many people were around him?
2) did he know they were referring to him?
3) didn't I read undercover guys were telling everyone to scatter
4) did they yell stop or halt?
5) this was a tragic mistake but lets not assume this guy knew he was running from police. He may have thought they were telling him to scatter along with other bystanders.
6) at the very least, this is not a black and white issue.
Funny you should mention Noriega. You are correct. They are still hunting for missing bodies today, 2005, people his goons murdered.
Thank you.
He left a terrorist safe house, was dressed like someone trying to conceal a bomb, acted suspiciously, and ran towards a train packed with civilians.
Hangs out with canards, looks like a canard, acts like a canard, dies like a canard.
Probably a canard...
This is an eternal, never-ending question: Do you trust the police?
Let's think "electrician".
Holy moly - what was he thinking?
With me it's yes sir, no sir, "cooperation are me" even for a traffic stop.
I can't tell you the times I've seen guys argue with a cop. I just want the warning ticket or the signature on the fender bender report so I can get on with my life.
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