Streatham attack: Police bullets flew into supermarket and pharmacy as officers shot at Sudesh Amman, watchdog says
Six shots were fired as officers tried to stop the terrorist, reports Lizzie Dearden
Police bullets went through the windows of a supermarket and a pharmacy during the Streatham terror attack, a watchdog has revealed.
One woman was taken to hospital after being injured by flying glass as officers opened fire on Sudesh Amman.
The 20-year-old Isis supporter was being followed by undercover police on foot when he grabbed a knife from inside a shop and started attacking people.
Two victims, a man and a woman, were stabbed before Amman was shot dead on 2 February. Both survived.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it was examining the circumstances of the fatal shooting, which is standard procedure regardless of the circumstances.
“At this stage we have established that two officers from the Metropolitan Police discharged a total of six shots,” a spokesperson said.
“One bullet penetrated a supermarket window and another bullet penetrated a window at a pharmacy. A woman sustained minor injuries consistent with having been caused by flying glass.”
The IOPC said no individual officers were under investigation but said it would assess the “actions and decisions, including the use of lethal force” of those involved.
A postmortem examination was carried out on Amman last week and investigators are awaiting a pathologist’s report.
The IOPC will also be examining what information police had and the action they took following Amman’s release from prison on 23 January, where he had been serving a sentence for terror offences.
“I would like to pay tribute to the police officers involved in responding to this attack and to those members of the public who assisted those injured,” said IOPC director for London Sal Naseem.
“It is important that we establish what information the police had and how they responded to it in the days after Amman’s release and prior to his death.
“We are liaising with the Metropolitan Police and working hard to ensure our investigation into the fatal shooting is completed as quickly as possible while ensuring the police are able to complete their enquiries into this attack.”
The IOPC is separately investigating a crash involving a police car that was responding to the attack. It collided with two other vehicles after the stabbing, and two people received minor injuries.
The watchdog’s investigation into November’s fatal shooting of terrorist Usman Khan on London Bridge, where a bullet appears to have gone through a bus, continues.
During the 2017 London Bridge attack, a man was hit in the head by a stray police bullet as the three jihadis were shot dead in Borough Market.
The IOPC found no offence or breach of professional standards had been committed because the officer who fired it was aiming at ringleader Khuram Butt and the gunshot was “was necessary to prevent serious harm or death”.
The Metropolitan Police commissioner previously defended the undercover officers who were following Amman when he launched his attack.
When questioned on whether it could have been prevented, Dame Cressida Dick said covert surveillance did not equate to “man-to-man marking”.
“It is inevitable that there could be a time delay before somebody totally unexpectedly does something,” she added.
“I wish I could assure the public that everybody who poses a risk on the streets could be subject to some sort of thing that would stop them being able to stab anybody ever, but it is clearly not possible.”
Amman had grabbed the knife from inside a shop, but was already wearing a fake suicide vest in apparent preparation for an attack.
Scotland Yard previously said the device “had been concealed under his clothes”, suggesting the officers did not see it until after he started stabbing people.
Police said Amman was inside the shop for less than a minute, and that he was shot dead within 60 seconds of starting the attack.
The attack came little after a week from when he was automatically released from prison, halfway through a sentence for collecting and distributing material useful for terror attacks.
Amman had originally been arrested on suspicion of planning an attack in May 2018, after writing that he was “armed and ready” online, declaring support for Isis and encouraging his girlfriend to behead her non-Muslim parents.
But he was charged with lesser offences on advice from the Crown Prosecution Service and received a sentence of three years and four months.
The Streatham stabbing was the third terror attack in little over two months to be committed by a convicted terrorism offender, following the incidents at Fishmongers’ Hall and inside HMP Whitemoor.
The latest attack has led to a vow by the government to bring in emergency legislation that would stop the automatic release of terror offenders currently in prison and ensure they are assessed by the Parole Board.