The Observer | Focus | Death in Stockwell: the unanswered questions
Why is there no CCTV footage?
Cameras at Stockwell tube should have provided footage of the ticket halls, the escalators and the platforms. Most modern tube carriages also have cameras inside. Yet police say none of the cameras at Stockwell was working at the time of the shooting. This is despite London being on high alert and tube bosses being only too well aware of the importance of maintaining CCTV systems.
This was reported by the Observer on August 14. Now, ITV is shocking Britain with the truth…
This police photo shows the Brazilian student Jean Charles Menezes,
who was shot and killed by armed officers at Stockwell underground
station, in south London.
Photograph: ITV
From Lenin’s Tomb:
CCTV footage, which the police said wasn’t working on the day, shows him entering the tube station, walking along normally, picking up a Metro (I imagine), using his Oyster card to go through the gates, walking across the concourse, walking down the stairs. If he ran, they decided, he would be shot. It is reported, again, that they did not identify themselves. He saw a tube arriving, and ran to catch it – as everyone does – and was shot. He didn’t even know he was being pursued.
1) On the day, a senior firearms officer had said that if they had the opportunity to challenge anyone emerging from the block of flats, and there was non-compliance, it would be appropriate to intervene with a fatal shot.
2) No subject coming out of the address should be allowed to run. (Incidentally, the only reason the address was identified was because one of the would-be bombers of 21/7 had the address of a gymnasium there in his bag).
3) De Menezes was observed, after the intelligence officer had finished taking his piss, walking to the bus station in his blue denim jacket, carrying no bags. His description and demeanour were noted, and it was agreed that he matched the profile of an alleged suicide bomber. How? ("Mongolian eyes", I suppose).
4) Gold Command, on the basis of this, gave the okay to shoot-to-kill.
5) Having taken the bus from Tulse Hill to Stockwell, he walked to the tube station, entered at "walking pace", picked up a Metro, and walked through the ticket gates with his Oyster card. He walked across the concourse and began "slowly descending" the escalator steps.
6) He only ran to catch the tube as it arrived, entered the carriage, looked right and left, then took a seat facing the platform.
7) Here is where it gets strange. He is supposed to have been shot after having been chased and wrestled to the floor. But an intelligence officer’s statement says he followed Menezes down the stairs and onto the tube. He was apparently beckoned by police, who did at that point identify themselves. "He stood, and walked towards me", the intelligence officer said. He grabbed Menezes, pulled his arms behind his back and pushed him back into the seat. "I heard a shot in my left ear". The intelligence officer said he was pushed to the floor at that point. A number of officers shot him in the head, seven times. Three bullets missed. One went into his shoulder.
For more commentary see here and here. (I’ve used excerpts from both links to assemble this post…)