Cab passenger shot dead by police - Belfast Telegraph

A minicab passenger has been shot dead by police after an apparent exchange of fire.

The 29-year-old, named locally as Mark Duggan, a father-of-four, died at the scene in Tottenham, north London, on Thursday. An officer may have had a lucky escape in the incident - a radio was found to have a bullet lodged in it.

Officers had been attempting to carry out an arrest under the Trident operational command unit, which deals with gun crime in the black community, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Local MP David Lammy called for calm, saying the community was anxious over what had happened.

London's Evening Standard newspaper quoted Mr Duggan's girlfriend Semone Wilson, 29, as saying she was "shocked" to learn her boyfriend of 13 years was carrying a gun. She said Mr Duggan, also known as Starrish Mark, had become increasingly paranoid after a cousin was stabbed to death in a nightclub in March.

According to reports on Saturday, Ms Wilson said her boyfriend had told her a police car had been following him. She is quoted as saying: "He sent a message on his Blackberry saying 'The Feds are following me.' And that's it, that's the last anyone heard from him."

The IPCC spokesman said that at around 6.15pm on Thursday officers from Trident, accompanied by officers from the Specialist Firearms Command (CO19), stopped a minicab to carry out an arrest. He said: "Shots were fired and a 29-year-old man, who was a passenger in the cab, died at the scene."

The attempted arrest was part of a pre-planned operation under Trident. It is believed that two shots were fired by a firearms officer, equipped with a Heckler & Koch MP5 carbine. A non-police issue handgun was recovered at the scene and an officer's radio, which appeared to have a bullet lodged in it, was also found.

IPCC commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne said: "Fatal shootings by the police are extremely rare and understandably raise significant community concerns. The IPCC will always conduct the investigations into such shootings to ensure that the public can be confident they are fully independent."

The IPCC is asking for anyone who witnessed the incident in Ferry Lane to contact them in confidence on 0800-096-9079 or email ferrylaneshooting@ipcc.gov.uk.