Tears as policeman recounts shooting innocent Brazilian
The officer, identified only as C12, said he was certain he had to kill Jean Charles de Menezes to stop another atrocity.
He told an inquest how he came face to face with the 27-year-old electrician in a London Underground train at Stockwell station on July 22, 2005 — the day after a failed attempt to repeat the carnage of July 7, when 56 people were killed and more than 700 injured.
De Menezes was shot seven times in the head at point-blank range after being mistaken for failed suicide bomber, Hussain
Osman, who lived in his block of flats.
Officers from Scotland Yard’s elite CO19 specialist firearms unit followed De Menezes into Stockwell Underground station and confronted him.
C12 said De Menezes got up from his seat and kept walking towards him even after he shouted “armed police” and pointed his gun at the electrician — and that convinced him to open fire.
“He continued on his forward momentum towards me,” he told the inquest.
“It was at that stage that I just formed the opinion that he’s going to detonate, he’s going to kill us and I have to act now in order to stop this from happening.”
He told the inquest, where the audience included the victim’s mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, that he recalled a scramble as he pointed a gun towards the Brazilian’s head while a surveillance officer, identified only as Ivor, pinned De Menezes down.
“I brought the handgun up from my leg and pointed it up to shoulder level,” said C12.
“He [Ivor] immediately grappled him into his seat.
“It just reconfirmed to me that I had to use force as soon as possible.
“If there was any alternative, you must believe me, I would have taken it.
“I did not believe I had an alternative and if I did not act, members of the public would be killed.
“My colleagues would be killed and I would be killed. I had a duty to protect the public.”
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