From: "Earl W", [EMAIL PROTECTED] Police 'lawfully' killed man armed with air rifle A FORMER soldier who was shot dead by police after repeatedly aiming an air rifle at them was lawfully killed, an inquest decided yesterday. Antony Kitts, 20, pointed the gun, resembling a 0.22 rifle, at unarmed police officers on the outskirts of Falmouth, Cornwall. The inquest was told that he also aimed the gun at two marksmen even after they shouted several times: "Armed police, put your weapon down." During the hearing at Truro both armed response officers were granted anonymity by the coroner and gave their evidence from behind screens. Officer A said that in the early hours of April 10 last year he was certain Mr Kitts was carrying a sniper rifle. The officer, who broke down while reading his statement, said he fired at Mr Kitts because he believed he was about to be shot at. Mr Kitts, of Falmouth, suffered massive injuries from a single soft-tipped bullet. At the end of an eight-day inquest a jury of seven women and two men took just under two hours to return a verdict of lawful killing. The foreman said: "The deceased adopted an aggressive demeanour towards officers and failed to respond to demands to put down his firearm." As the verdict was given, Mr Kitts's mother, Diana, wept. After the inquest she said she still had to live with the nightmare every day. She said: "There are two sides to every story and all we have heard is the police side. Antony is the only other person who can say what really happened that night and he is dead." Tina Salvidge, her solicitor, said questions remained unanswered and the family was considering what further legal action could be taken. She said: "We remain concerned at the apparent lack of police organisation in an incident of this nature. We are still of the view that if the police had exercised more caution in their approach to Antony, there would have been no reason to shoot and he would have still been with his family today." At a press conference after the inquest, Ian Latimer, Assistant Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, said the verdict had vindicated the actions of all the officers involved. He said: "We deeply regret the death of Antony Kitts. We are convinced, however, that given the circumstances our officers could not have acted differently." He defended the use of the soft-tipped bullets, which do not pass through the body and so cause more internal damage than a solid bullet. The ammunition was used by other forces and complied with Home Office guidelines. ========== Do the police have access to the growing array of "non-lethal" products available to "SWAT" teams? I'm thinking "Bean Bag rounds" CR/CS/CN liquid gas sticky foam rounds, Rubber Bullets etc? (Are "Bean Bag Rounds" legal for civilian use?) The Special Forces have all these items - why not the police? It is even written in (I think Steven Crawfords) an ex SAS members Biography that when the Hungerford shootings were occurring 2 SAS Range Rovers (of anti terrorist wing) were returning from training in explosive access, & as usual has all their standard equipment with them. One of the team leaders (with his team) decided to visit a family member (poss his mum) for tea & cakes at a town close to Hungerford, though upon getting closer to Hungerford they heard on the Police radio that someone was on a shooting spree. They decided to offer their help, they found the Police Officer in charge (at this time 2 people had been shot). They offered their services, to "Gas & Bag" Michael Ryan, using a mix of Grenade & shotgun launched Pepper, liquid CN Gas, & other "Non-Lethal" substances techniques & equipment, to bring the shooter down (obviously while wearing all their appropriate ballistic armour!) Note this equipment was not available in any other immediate form to Hungerford Police. (according to the official reports) Guess what the Police Officer in charge said of this generous offer...NO THANK YOU!!! The SAS left, & when they arrived back at their barracks, they heard the actual body count, from what I've read they weren't best pleased at the outcome. You'd have thought that idiot who turned them down would have at least asked them to lend medical support & to use the Armoured SAS Range Rover.... Note also that the Hungerford Police report said they could do nothing WITHOUT AN ARMOURED VEHICLE for casualty evacuation, obviously a Armoured SAS Range Rover is not armoured enough!!! Can anyone think of any other "non Lethal's that the Police should be using? (& Wasn't there a tv program about SWAT Non Lethals last year IIRC) EW -- Apparently the police don't have anything non-lethal except for CS spray going by the recent article about ACPO wanting other weapons for the police. I'm not sure I believe this story about the SAS at Hungerford, even if it's completely true it's not legal for a copper to say to a member of the Army that it's okay to go and use potentially lethal force against a member of the public. Only the Home Secretary can do that. And as I recall the request has to come directly from the Chief Constable for the force concerned and so on. The reason I don't believe it is because while I accept it's possible for some members of the SAS to be nearby training, to be nearby training with a pile of CRW equipment is difficult to swallow. And stopping off to see his mum on the way back to Hereford for tea and cakes, with a Range Rover full of MP5s and explosive entry devices, and the rest of a CRW team? Come off it. Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________________________ T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less. Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose. http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
