`Gunman' shot dead by police was not armed

A SUSPECTED gunman who was shot dead by police officers following up a tip-off in east London was carrying only a piece of wood in a plastic bag, the Police Complaints Authority said yesterday.

The independent authority has begun an investigation into how the man, believed to be in his 40s, was killed after being confronted by officers from the Metropolitan Police firearms unit S019 on Wednesday evening. Scotland Yard said yesterday that the officers, who had received information that a white man had left a nearby pub carrying a gun in a blue plastic bag, believed they were "under immediate threat".

An extensive police search of gardens and bins close to Victoria Park Road, Hackney, east London, where the man was shot at 7.55pm, failed to recover any weapons. And the authority yesterday announced that the bag had contained a "wooden object". The authority also confirmed that two officers had opened fire.

It is the third fatal police firearms incident since April and last night a pressure group, Inquest, called for an immediate review of police weapons training. Deborah Coles, Inquest's co-director, said: "It seems that increased arming of the police is leading to more of these incidents."

As the investigation began, residents of east London streets near the scene said that at least 20 police officers had quickly arrived before shots were heard and that the dead man's body had been left uncovered on the pavement for some time after the shooting. Angela Butcher, 43, described how she heard two bangs. "I looked through the window and I could see a kerfuffle in the street opposite," she said. "They [the police officers] were looking down at something on the ground. There were at least a dozen in uniforms and about eight or nine in body armour. The thing that bothered me was they left the body lying on the pavement for ages. It was not nice. People deserve some dignity."

Ken Warren, 70, who lives in a nearby flat, said: "I stuck my head outside the door to see what was going on and I was told by policeto get back inside. My wife and I went up on the roof garden to have a look. We could see a lot of policemen and their attention was fixed on something lying beside my car."

The Metropolitan Police said that officers were responding to reports that a man had left the Alexandra pub with a gun in a bag. A spokesman said: "A man seen fitting the description was challenged by officers searching the area. It appears the officers believed they were under immediate threat from the man, and a number of shots were fired by police."

A post-mortem examination of the body was carried out yesterday at Poplar Mortuary. An inquest will opened on Tuesday. Police were last night having difficulty contacting the man's next of kin and it is expected that he will be named later today. Surrey Police has been appointed to conduct the PCA investigation.

The shooting follows the death last year of James Ashley, 39, who was shot while in bed with his girlfriend as police raided a flat in Hastings, East Sussex. A police constable has been charged with Mr Ashley's murder and four other officers face misconduct charges over the handling of the raid.