So the police had cornered him and Kaba decided to ram the police cars, correlating with some of the eye witness reports. An officer was infront of Kaba’s car and decided to shoot.
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Ramming your car into police cars while armed police are actively aiming at you is never gonna end well.
Sick of the use of unarmed as if its some gotcha. Unarmed doesn’t mean not dangerous, it doesn’t mean no threat to life, it doesn’t mean a shooting wasn’t justified.
Several police officers have been killed and many seriously injured due to being struck by vehicles, or rammed. The world is not GTA – hitting people and other cars with cars is a serious, dangerous, act and presents a clear threat to life and limb.
It should be thoroughly investigated, it should be debriefed, but I’ll be gobsmacked if this firearms officer didn’t use reasonable force in the face of his genuinely held beliefs at the time. I.e., that the person in a several ton vehicle posed a very real threat which needed to be immediately stopped.
Play stupid games win stupid prizes… stop glorifying criminal behaviour.
So Kaba was shot in self defence while attempting to use lethal force on arresting officers.
Fully justified – and we knew it would be once the family “took a step back” after viewing police bodycam footage.
From Kaba’s cousin:
“How can a young man, sitting in a car, unarmed, be shot in the head by police in London in 2022?
By attempting to kill armed police officers by ramming them with a vehicle, that’s how.
I love how the news only throws race in your face when it’s a PoC that is the victim. “A bLaCk MaLe WaS sHoT By POLiCE”
Someone could go on a killing spree and there be video evidence of a PoC doing so and the description will be “man in red T-shirt”
Interestingly, the family took a step back after viewing the body-worn camera footage at the local station. This says to me the footage must be pretty damning
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Lovely neighbour and friendly community guy. You heard it hear first.
[deleted]
IOPC Statement:
>The below statement was read out today at the opening of the inquest into the death of Chris Kaba, which was heard at the London Inner South Coroner’s Court.
Opening note
The following summary is based upon the evidence collated to date in this investigation.
Summary of events
On Monday 5 September 2022, Mr Chris Kaba was driving an Audi motor vehicle in South London. The Audi Mr Kaba was driving was believed to be linked to a firearms incident which took place the previous day and an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) marker had been placed upon it.
A briefing was provided to officers prior to their shift on 5 September in which the Audi was brought to their attention as being potentially associated with the firearms incident the previous day. Mr Kaba’s name was not included in this briefing.
According to police logs and accounts received to date by officers, the Audi was recognised by officers parked at the side of the A202 in Camberwell Green in an unmarked armed response vehicle (ARV). The officers then started to follow the vehicle and circulated this via police airwaves at around 9.52pm.
Officers continued to follow the Audi until 10.07pm. The officers did not activate their lights or sirens while following the vehicle. The intention was to use an ‘enforced stop extraction’ on the Audi.
At around 10.07pm, Mr Kaba made a left turn from New Park Road onto Kirkstall Gardens. Already present on Kirkstall Gardens was a marked police armed response vehicle. The marked ARV had parked on Kirkstall Gardens with the intention of joining the other police vehicles behind the Audi once it had passed the junction. One of the officers inside the marked ARV was NX121.
Once Mr Kaba made the left turn the decision was taken to perform an ‘inline extraction’. Armed officers exited their vehicles and approached the Audi. The evidence suggests that contact was made between the Audi driven by Mr Kaba and the police vehicles.
The evidence further suggests that officer NX121 was standing to the front of Mr Kaba’s vehicle. A single shot was fired by officer NX121 piercing the front windscreen of the vehicle Mr Kaba was driving and struck him.
Officers at the scene provided first aid to Mr Kaba before he was taken to King’s College Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12.16am on Tuesday 6 September 2022.
Investigation progress
Substantial progress has been made in the investigation to date. IOPC investigators attended the scene of the incident in the hours after it occurred and an independent investigation was declared as soon as the IOPC was informed.
Two post incident processes have taken place, during which the key police witnesses have provided their S9 statements.
The officer who discharged their firearm – NX121 – has been notified they are under criminal investigation for the offence of the murder of Mr Kaba.
The terms of reference for the case have been drafted and a 6 – 9 month timeframe has been set to complete the investigation.
Forensic work was conducted, both at the scene and later on the Audi Mr Kaba was driving, along with a number of police vehicles. This work is extensive and remains ongoing.
Investigators have conducted a number of house-to-house and CCTV trawls on Kirkstall Gardens and the surrounding area. The investigation is still eager to hear from anyone who has not made contact to date who witnessed the incident.
A post-mortem on Mr Kaba has been completed and further pathological work is in train. A provisional cause of death of ‘gunshot wound to the head’ has been issued.
The IOPC has met with the family of Mr Kaba and their representatives. They will continue to be updated in line with all IOPC investigations.
Yh duhhh his own family were shown the video then decided to drop their inquiry and cancel the protest
Wonder why
What we do know:
– Chris Kaba was in a car who’s number plate was identified as being related to suspected criminal activity
– After a chase, the car was contained by two Police vehicles in Kirkstall Gardens in a “controlled stop” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/16/first-edition-chris-kaba-met-police)
– A specialist firearms officer then fired a single shot at the driver’s side through the windscreen, hitting Kaba (Guardian source again)
– The reports suggest that the officer in question was stood in front of the vehicle at the time of shooting (this article)
– The car was later found to contain no firearms (Guardian source again)
– As reported by the BBC, a 39 year old local eyewitness, the police vehicles “Had him locked in at the bottom of Kirkstall Gardens. The car was immobile when he was shot.” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62798871)
– The firearms officer has since been suspended pending the outcome of the IOPC homicide investigation (Guardian source again)
What we do not know:
– Whether the car Chris Kaba was in was still moving, or presented a danger at the time of shooting (no official confirmation has been made here, beyond the above eyewitness statement)
– What triggered the specialist firearms officer to shoot Chris Kaba
All that being considered, it’s fair to expect a full investigation here before more details are provided. At present, this is also the killing of an unarmed man, who was in a car which had been the subject of a controlled stop. Given the man was black, and the Met’s awful record with regard to abuses of power when it comes to race, it is also completely fair to ask questions about whether racism played a factor.
If anyone remembers the McPherson report, the Met were found to be “institutionally racist”. In one alarming finding, the Met went as far as using undercover officers to “befriend and spy on” the family of murder victim Stephen Lawrence, killed in a racially motivated attack, after the family protested against the Met’s handling of his investigation. This is not an institution arriving at this incident with clean hands, and a reputation for transparency.
Those who are protesting this killing, and asking for answers have every right to do so, particularly since we have no evidence Chris Kaba presented a threat; and to the contrary his car appears to have been confined at the time. The Met’s differentiated behaviour with white and non-white people is also well established.
As such, is it possible that Chris Kaba put the firearms officer in a position following the vehicle pursuit where his best course of action was to fatally shoot him? Of course, everything is still on the table. But, given the thousands of previous car chases, and the fact that not one has previously required a fatal shooting, is this likely? The statistics would say that the likelihood is incredibly low, and indicates to the contrary that police are extremely well versed in handling these incidents without shooting. So how is it that this incident, involving an unarmed man and a car which had already been the subject of a controlled stop, resulted in this colossal statical outlier of a fatal shooting?
This is why people are protesting. That this incident was able to escalate to a fatal shooting by police, when so many similar cases in the past have been resolved without needing a firearm, indicates a likelihood of ineptitude on the part of the police response, or even a willful disregard for life. People are justified in asking questions here, particularly the Met’s reputation for both of these in the past when people who aren’t white are involved.
Ultimately, we won’t have an answer here as to whether Chris Kaba died because of the colour of his skin for quite some time. It may be years following the inquest, with the best answer being a “maybe”. But, given what we know so far about his death, and the facts of the Met police’s history, protesting and asking for a proper investigation is absolutely justified. Of course he should not have been involved in a police chase, and of course he could have helped de-escalate the situation. But did he deserve to die for this?
From the looks of the pictures there was a small gap between a police car and another vehicle.
The officer was standing in that gap.
It appears that he was maybe trying to force his car through that gap to get away. So perhaps not _specifically_ aiming to hurt/kill the police officer, but, taking action which he knew could easily have hurt/killed said officer.
Wtf is the media desperately trying to spin this? The guy was ramming police cars whilst trying to use deadly force. The dude had it coming. Use as many smiling photographs as you like
Every time an armed officer is forced to use lethal force the question should always be “what caused that officer to have to do that?”. Pro tip; it’s not for the years of fun and games at the hands of the media, the IOPC, etc.
20 comments
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So the police had cornered him and Kaba decided to ram the police cars, correlating with some of the eye witness reports. An officer was infront of Kaba’s car and decided to shoot.
[removed]
Ramming your car into police cars while armed police are actively aiming at you is never gonna end well.
Sick of the use of unarmed as if its some gotcha. Unarmed doesn’t mean not dangerous, it doesn’t mean no threat to life, it doesn’t mean a shooting wasn’t justified.
Several police officers have been killed and many seriously injured due to being struck by vehicles, or rammed. The world is not GTA – hitting people and other cars with cars is a serious, dangerous, act and presents a clear threat to life and limb.
It should be thoroughly investigated, it should be debriefed, but I’ll be gobsmacked if this firearms officer didn’t use reasonable force in the face of his genuinely held beliefs at the time. I.e., that the person in a several ton vehicle posed a very real threat which needed to be immediately stopped.
Play stupid games win stupid prizes… stop glorifying criminal behaviour.
Gang culture is not “Black” culture.
I’d rather police time was spent on solving the killing of [Alexander Kareem](https://news.sky.com/story/brother-of-man-shot-dead-in-unsolved-murder-living-in-fear-of-attack-by-killer-still-at-large-12705701) than indulging any more nonsensical quests for “justice” in this case
[deleted]
So Kaba was shot in self defence while attempting to use lethal force on arresting officers.
Fully justified – and we knew it would be once the family “took a step back” after viewing police bodycam footage.
From Kaba’s cousin:
“How can a young man, sitting in a car, unarmed, be shot in the head by police in London in 2022?
By attempting to kill armed police officers by ramming them with a vehicle, that’s how.
I love how the news only throws race in your face when it’s a PoC that is the victim. “A bLaCk MaLe WaS sHoT By POLiCE”
Someone could go on a killing spree and there be video evidence of a PoC doing so and the description will be “man in red T-shirt”
Interestingly, the family took a step back after viewing the body-worn camera footage at the local station. This says to me the footage must be pretty damning
[removed]
Lovely neighbour and friendly community guy. You heard it hear first.
[deleted]
IOPC Statement:
>The below statement was read out today at the opening of the inquest into the death of Chris Kaba, which was heard at the London Inner South Coroner’s Court.
Opening note
The following summary is based upon the evidence collated to date in this investigation.
Summary of events
On Monday 5 September 2022, Mr Chris Kaba was driving an Audi motor vehicle in South London. The Audi Mr Kaba was driving was believed to be linked to a firearms incident which took place the previous day and an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) marker had been placed upon it.
A briefing was provided to officers prior to their shift on 5 September in which the Audi was brought to their attention as being potentially associated with the firearms incident the previous day. Mr Kaba’s name was not included in this briefing.
According to police logs and accounts received to date by officers, the Audi was recognised by officers parked at the side of the A202 in Camberwell Green in an unmarked armed response vehicle (ARV). The officers then started to follow the vehicle and circulated this via police airwaves at around 9.52pm.
Officers continued to follow the Audi until 10.07pm. The officers did not activate their lights or sirens while following the vehicle. The intention was to use an ‘enforced stop extraction’ on the Audi.
At around 10.07pm, Mr Kaba made a left turn from New Park Road onto Kirkstall Gardens. Already present on Kirkstall Gardens was a marked police armed response vehicle. The marked ARV had parked on Kirkstall Gardens with the intention of joining the other police vehicles behind the Audi once it had passed the junction. One of the officers inside the marked ARV was NX121.
Once Mr Kaba made the left turn the decision was taken to perform an ‘inline extraction’. Armed officers exited their vehicles and approached the Audi. The evidence suggests that contact was made between the Audi driven by Mr Kaba and the police vehicles.
The evidence further suggests that officer NX121 was standing to the front of Mr Kaba’s vehicle. A single shot was fired by officer NX121 piercing the front windscreen of the vehicle Mr Kaba was driving and struck him.
Officers at the scene provided first aid to Mr Kaba before he was taken to King’s College Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12.16am on Tuesday 6 September 2022.
Investigation progress
Substantial progress has been made in the investigation to date. IOPC investigators attended the scene of the incident in the hours after it occurred and an independent investigation was declared as soon as the IOPC was informed.
Two post incident processes have taken place, during which the key police witnesses have provided their S9 statements.
The officer who discharged their firearm – NX121 – has been notified they are under criminal investigation for the offence of the murder of Mr Kaba.
The terms of reference for the case have been drafted and a 6 – 9 month timeframe has been set to complete the investigation.
Forensic work was conducted, both at the scene and later on the Audi Mr Kaba was driving, along with a number of police vehicles. This work is extensive and remains ongoing.
Investigators have conducted a number of house-to-house and CCTV trawls on Kirkstall Gardens and the surrounding area. The investigation is still eager to hear from anyone who has not made contact to date who witnessed the incident.
A post-mortem on Mr Kaba has been completed and further pathological work is in train. A provisional cause of death of ‘gunshot wound to the head’ has been issued.
The IOPC has met with the family of Mr Kaba and their representatives. They will continue to be updated in line with all IOPC investigations.
​
[https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/statement-read-out-opening-inquest-death-chris-kaba](https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/statement-read-out-opening-inquest-death-chris-kaba)
Yh duhhh his own family were shown the video then decided to drop their inquiry and cancel the protest
Wonder why
What we do know:
– Chris Kaba was in a car who’s number plate was identified as being related to suspected criminal activity
– After a chase, the car was contained by two Police vehicles in Kirkstall Gardens in a “controlled stop” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/16/first-edition-chris-kaba-met-police)
– A specialist firearms officer then fired a single shot at the driver’s side through the windscreen, hitting Kaba (Guardian source again)
– The reports suggest that the officer in question was stood in front of the vehicle at the time of shooting (this article)
– The car was later found to contain no firearms (Guardian source again)
– As reported by the BBC, a 39 year old local eyewitness, the police vehicles “Had him locked in at the bottom of Kirkstall Gardens. The car was immobile when he was shot.” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62798871)
– The firearms officer has since been suspended pending the outcome of the IOPC homicide investigation (Guardian source again)
What we do not know:
– Whether the car Chris Kaba was in was still moving, or presented a danger at the time of shooting (no official confirmation has been made here, beyond the above eyewitness statement)
– What triggered the specialist firearms officer to shoot Chris Kaba
All that being considered, it’s fair to expect a full investigation here before more details are provided. At present, this is also the killing of an unarmed man, who was in a car which had been the subject of a controlled stop. Given the man was black, and the Met’s awful record with regard to abuses of power when it comes to race, it is also completely fair to ask questions about whether racism played a factor.
If anyone remembers the McPherson report, the Met were found to be “institutionally racist”. In one alarming finding, the Met went as far as using undercover officers to “befriend and spy on” the family of murder victim Stephen Lawrence, killed in a racially motivated attack, after the family protested against the Met’s handling of his investigation. This is not an institution arriving at this incident with clean hands, and a reputation for transparency.
Those who are protesting this killing, and asking for answers have every right to do so, particularly since we have no evidence Chris Kaba presented a threat; and to the contrary his car appears to have been confined at the time. The Met’s differentiated behaviour with white and non-white people is also well established.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that Chris Kaba did endanger an officer’s life, but there has been no evidence shown of this so far. The fact remains that there are around 10,000 vehicle pursuits every year (https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-news/2019/11/21/concern-as-deaths-in-police-pursuits-reach-10-year-high), none of which (until now) end in a shooting, fatal or otherwise. The number of fatal shootings are incredibly low in the UK, and year on year the police only shoot to death around 3 people (https://www.inquest.org.uk/fatal-police-shootings).
As such, is it possible that Chris Kaba put the firearms officer in a position following the vehicle pursuit where his best course of action was to fatally shoot him? Of course, everything is still on the table. But, given the thousands of previous car chases, and the fact that not one has previously required a fatal shooting, is this likely? The statistics would say that the likelihood is incredibly low, and indicates to the contrary that police are extremely well versed in handling these incidents without shooting. So how is it that this incident, involving an unarmed man and a car which had already been the subject of a controlled stop, resulted in this colossal statical outlier of a fatal shooting?
This is why people are protesting. That this incident was able to escalate to a fatal shooting by police, when so many similar cases in the past have been resolved without needing a firearm, indicates a likelihood of ineptitude on the part of the police response, or even a willful disregard for life. People are justified in asking questions here, particularly the Met’s reputation for both of these in the past when people who aren’t white are involved.
Ultimately, we won’t have an answer here as to whether Chris Kaba died because of the colour of his skin for quite some time. It may be years following the inquest, with the best answer being a “maybe”. But, given what we know so far about his death, and the facts of the Met police’s history, protesting and asking for a proper investigation is absolutely justified. Of course he should not have been involved in a police chase, and of course he could have helped de-escalate the situation. But did he deserve to die for this?
From the looks of the pictures there was a small gap between a police car and another vehicle.
The officer was standing in that gap.
It appears that he was maybe trying to force his car through that gap to get away. So perhaps not _specifically_ aiming to hurt/kill the police officer, but, taking action which he knew could easily have hurt/killed said officer.
Wtf is the media desperately trying to spin this? The guy was ramming police cars whilst trying to use deadly force. The dude had it coming. Use as many smiling photographs as you like
Every time an armed officer is forced to use lethal force the question should always be “what caused that officer to have to do that?”. Pro tip; it’s not for the years of fun and games at the hands of the media, the IOPC, etc.