Mohammed Abdul Kahar, the 23-year-old who was shot in the Forest Gate raid has said that that the policeman who shot him gave no warning...but they did have eye contact.
We both had eye contact, he shot me straight away. I just saw an orange spark and a big bang. I flew into the wall, slipped down. There was blood coming down my chest. I knew I was shot.
Londonist has since spoken to a Met spokesperson who confirmed that official proecedure in these circumstances runs in this order:
First: Make eye contact.
Second: Shoot.
Later: Ask questions.
The spokesperson went on to say that "Official police guidelines now state that in a situation where evil chemical terrorist gangs are being neutralised, our troops...sorry, officers, are able to replace the traditional pre-shooting warning with the more sublte and much faster 'eye contact' strategy.
Eyes are the window of the soul after all, and if a person seems to have an evil terrorist soul, or even looks vaguley shifty, then we pop a cap in their ass."
