timezone
24-10-2008, 03:08 PM
A police marksman who killed Jean Charles de Menezes had never fired at a suspect before, the Stockwell inquest heard.
http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/ne/itn/20081024/11/4277382595-menezes-marksman-s-first-target.jpg#300,225
The officer qualified as one of Scotland Yard's elite specialist firearms officers in 1998 but used his weapon against a suspect for the first time on July 22, 2005, the hearing was told.
The marksman - identified by the code name C12 - has never spoken about the shooting in public before.
Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head at point-blank range inside Stockwell Tube station in south London after being mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.
Officer C12 was watched in the courtroom as he gave evidence by the Brazilian's mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, 63, and brother, Giovani da Silva, 36.
He said he was told "nothing at all" about the "urgency" of his deployment and had worked a 14-hour shift the previous day.
The marksman said he chose a Glock pistol, a rifle and stun grenades "to equip me for every eventuality" and selected 124-grain ammunition, which he had been told was best for an "immediate incapacitation".
He added: "This type of ammunition had been researched by other officers and it was found that it would be far more suitable if the subject was a suicide bomber and a critical shot was issued. It would cause immediate incapacitation with a brain stem shot."
The officer said he was given few details about Osman or the operation during two early morning briefings, saying: "I cannot specifically recall the details but the general talk involved a counter-terrorist operation following the day or the previous day's bombings.
"It was a very short briefing - a pen sketch idea of what we were doing and where we had to go immediately."
http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/ne/itn/20081024/11/4277382595-menezes-marksman-s-first-target.jpg#300,225
The officer qualified as one of Scotland Yard's elite specialist firearms officers in 1998 but used his weapon against a suspect for the first time on July 22, 2005, the hearing was told.
The marksman - identified by the code name C12 - has never spoken about the shooting in public before.
Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head at point-blank range inside Stockwell Tube station in south London after being mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.
Officer C12 was watched in the courtroom as he gave evidence by the Brazilian's mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, 63, and brother, Giovani da Silva, 36.
He said he was told "nothing at all" about the "urgency" of his deployment and had worked a 14-hour shift the previous day.
The marksman said he chose a Glock pistol, a rifle and stun grenades "to equip me for every eventuality" and selected 124-grain ammunition, which he had been told was best for an "immediate incapacitation".
He added: "This type of ammunition had been researched by other officers and it was found that it would be far more suitable if the subject was a suicide bomber and a critical shot was issued. It would cause immediate incapacitation with a brain stem shot."
The officer said he was given few details about Osman or the operation during two early morning briefings, saying: "I cannot specifically recall the details but the general talk involved a counter-terrorist operation following the day or the previous day's bombings.
"It was a very short briefing - a pen sketch idea of what we were doing and where we had to go immediately."