An investigation has been launched after a car crash during a police chase left a man shot and killed in south London.
The man, named as Chris Kaba, a drill music artist, was followed by armed officers from the Metropolitan Police before the shooting in a residential street in Streatham on Monday night. Kaba’s car was surrounded by police cars, and locals reported hearing at least one gunshot.
At the scene in Kirkstall Gardens, a dark colored Audi was visible with a single bullet hole visible in the driver’s side front window.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is investigating, has not yet said whether a gun was found at the scene, with fingertip searches underway, or how many shots were fired or by whom.
Investigators secured any available video from police body-worn cameras and it is understood officers involved in the incident are being treated as witnesses.
Although independent investigations are mandatory when police open fire, there is no automatic presumption that the police have done anything wrong.
The Met said one of the officers opened fire with a police-issued weapon. “The vehicle was stopped following tactical contact in Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham Hill. A police weapon was fired. A passenger in the suspect vehicle, a man believed to be in his 20s, suffered a gunshot wound, the force said.
Authorities gave little detail about the shooting or the events leading up to it, and locals where the cars stopped gave their accounts of the drama.
A 39-year-old man, who did not want to be named, said: “A police car came down Kirkstall Gardens and crashed into him. Another police car came in behind him and they had him locked up at the bottom of Kirkstall Gardens. The car was stationary when he was shot. The bang was really loud. I was in my house with my gaming headphones on and I heard it.”
The IOPC said: “At this early stage it is believed that a man was fatally shot during a police response to reports of a suspicious vehicle. We were alerted by the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] to the incident just after 11pm and we declared an independent investigation just before midnight.
“IOPC investigators were dispatched to the scene and procedures following the incident to begin gathering evidence. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to everyone affected by this terrible incident.”
Police shootings in the capital risk straining relations in society. The shooting happened in the borough of Lambeth, where trust in the Met is low. According to a public survey by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, 40% of people in Lambeth think the Met does a good job in the local area, the second lowest score of London’s 32 boroughs.
The figures have collapsed over the past five years: in March 2017, 67% of people in Lambeth said they thought the police were doing a good job in the area.
When the IOPC takes over the investigation, the Met is limited in what it can say. “Investigations into the exact circumstances are ongoing,” the force said.
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