Met police officer cleared of murder following fatal shooting in South London

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Metropolitan Police officer Martyn Blake has been acquitted of the murder of Chris Kaba, who was fatally shot in Streatham, south-east London, on 5 September 2022.

The 40-year-old officer discharged his weapon at the 24 year old through the Audi Q8's windscreen after recognising the car as one involved in a previous shooting incident.The vehicle was cornered by police in Kirkstall Gardens following its registration being spotted. The operation included a helicopter and six police vehicles.

Kaba was aware he was being pursued, as evidenced by him telling his friend Elisha Fizul: "Lish, one sec, I think there is police behind me."

Courtroom footage showed armed officers yelling commands such as "go, go, go" and "armed police, get out of the f***ing car," while encircling the Audi.

As Kaba manoeuvred the car back and forth in an attempt to escape, Blake testified that he feared for a colleague's life, prompting him to shoot to immobilise the vehicle, reports the Mirror.

Kaba, who was not carrying any weapons and had both hands on the wheel when shot in the head, passed away in hospital the next day. The construction worker, soon to be a father, became the centre of several protests, especially within London's black communities.

Another firearms officer, referred to as DS87, stated he would have also fired if Blake hadn't, and a third officer, known as E156, claimed he was mere moments away from doing so himself. Another officer, NX109, narrowly escaped injury when his glove got snagged on the door handle of an Audi and he managed to pull free just before the vehicle lurched forward - he told the court he feared being dragged into a nearby parked Tesla.

The prosecution claimed Mr Blake misjudged the situation, accusing him of giving a "false" and "exaggerated" account by alleging Kaba used his car as a weapon, and intentionally aimed for Kaba's head, which he denied.

In his defence, the jury heard high praise from colleagues and senior officers. Prosecutors also suggested the shooting was "not necessary", but Blake insisted he had feared for his life. His defence barrister, Patrick Gibbs KC, argued that Mr Blake wasn't a "RoboCop" with superhuman reaction times, saying: "He is not a robot, he is a human being with a human brain who did this to the best of his ability."

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Following the incident, the Independent Office for Police Conduct will consider if Mr Blake should face disciplinary proceedings. Initially, Blake reported to his superiors: "I had a genuine belief that either of us could be killed and moved right out of the way. The driver then rammed our car, which was behind me as well as a parked car and stopped, wedged.

"Seeing the car was stopped I went round to the front and again challenged the driver saying something like, 'Armed police, stop the vehicle', at this point the driver reversed back at great speed as fast as he could, directly towards my colleagues who were out on foot approaching the vehicle.

"The male had already shown a propensity to use violence and was happy to use any means to escape and I had a genuine held belief that one or many of my colleagues could be killed by the car, and that the driver would not stop his attempt to escape at any cost.

"I then made the decision to incapacitate the driver due to the imminent threat to my colleagues and took one aimed shot at the driver. He immediately slumped and the car stopped."

Jurors heard Blake say he felt "at grave risk of serious injury by virtue of the ramming of our vehicle and could easily have been killed due to the ferocity of the impact of the Audi moving forward". The case has sparked debate about the use of firearms and how officers are held accountable in fatal shootings, with many of Mr Blake's colleagues staging a walkout when he was initially charged with murder.

Police chiefs expressed worries that officers might be reluctant to volunteer for firearms training because of the intense scrutiny they could face if they had to take a fatal shot

.

Mr Blake, prior to the night Mr Kaba passed away, had neither used a weapon on a person nor witnessed one being used in such a manner. His associates were tentative about his decision to become a firearms officer, despite him believing it to be "the best job" within the Metropolitan Police.

Data for England and Wales indicates that, up to March 2023, there were 18,395 operations involving police firearms. In these, guns were intentionally discharged in only 10 incidents, leading to three deaths.

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