Police shoot dead knifeman in siege

London Evening Standard

London

Police yesterday shot dead a man after he threatened a woman with a knife during a siege at a north London house.

Residents in the street were woken by a volley of gunshots “like fireworks” and saw the area swamped with police cars and armed officers.

Police had surrounded the house in Islington after the man threatened the woman during a heated row in a basement. A police negotiator spoke to the man for nearly two hours but the talks broke down shortly before 1am.

Officers fired stun grenades — or distraction devices — into the house in Shepperton Road before marksmen fired a number of shots.

The man was carried from the scene in a blanket but died on the way to hospital about 20 minutes later.

Photos taken by neighbours show a middle-aged woman in a pink blanket being comforted by a female police officer as she was led away from the house. She was not harmed but was treated for shock. The man and woman are believed to have known each other and neighbours said they had recently moved into a flat in the Georgian terrace.

Lyssa Barber, a neighbour who works in recruitment for a City bank, said: “I was woken up to shouts and immediately afterwards to what sounded like four or five bangs. They were gunshots. I think I heard five gunshots, but a gunshot in real life doesn’t sound like it does on TV. It sounded like loud bangs on a door. Bang, bang, bang. Then I realised, if it’s somebody banging on the door, why can I hear it?

“We saw the ambulance and police. There were eight police vehicles I could see from my window, and I saw five armed officers.

“The ambulance arrived as I was looking out of my window. Police came out of the house. We could see someone being led away. I’m fairly sure they were wearing pink and had to be supported by officers.”

Other residents said they heard between three and five bangs following a lengthy row between a man and police officers after he refused to leave the property.

Pat Halpin, 28, who works in logistics, said: “A police car pulled up and then there was a lot of yelling and swearing. Two officers were looking through the glass with torches telling the man to open the front door.

“It went on for about an hour and more police and vehicles were arriving with equipment. It looked like it was petering out, but then my house mate said he heard more noise at about 1am, quite a few shots and a helicopter.”

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “We were watching Big Brother when we heard a row in the house next door. There was a man in the basement shouting.  The police turned up and we heard them asking for assistance, saying a woman was being held hostage. A police negotiator came and they were trying to talk to him, saying things like ‘don’t be silly mate’.

“After about two hours we heard the shots. There were about three shots and then shouts for an ambulance and people saying ‘man shot’.

The street remained cordoned off yesterday morning with more than a dozen police at the scene. A nursery in the street was closed. The incident was the first fatal shooting by police in London since Mark Duggan was killed by marksmen in August 2011.