Footage of the aftermath of the police shooting of Mark Duggan, whose death in north London sparked the 2011 summer riots, has emerged to media.
The footage, by someone who says they witnessed the shooting, includes attempts to save Mark Duggan’s life following the incident last August.
On the tape, the witness recounts that Mark Duggan jumped out of a car and police twice shouted: “Put it down.”
The witness who provided the footage to the BBC has asked to remain anonymous.
Mark Duggan was shot by police on 4 August in north London. Within days there was rioting in Tottenham – the scene of the shooting – which then spread across England in the worst disorder in a generation.
The father-of-four was a passenger in a minicab which was stopped in a planned operation involving the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime affecting black communities, and officers from the specialist firearms team CO19.
Two shots were fired from a police gun and Mark Duggan died following a single gunshot wound to the chest. A non-police issue firearm was found at the scene.
The pre-inquest review into the death heard earlier this year that the gun had no traces of Mark Duggan’s fingerprints, DNA or blood on it.
The footage begins just minutes after the police opened fire at about 6:15 p.m. It shows the people-carrier minicab that Mark Duggan had been travelling in and three unmarked police cars used to halt the vehicle. Mark Duggan is lying on the pavement as attempts are made to resuscitate him.
Buses initially pass the scene before the police have had time to close roads. As time goes on, paramedics can be seen continuing emergency treatment in vain. Firearms officers wearing baseball caps can be seen moving around the scene.
During the footage, the witness provides occasional commentary of what has happened – and also recounts the moments before the filming began.
According to an audio expert, the witness says: “They blocked him in, they blocked him in. He jumped out… And then he’s taken out, shot him … because I heard them shout at him yeah, put it down, put it down.”
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) had not been able to interview any of the 31 officers who were present at the incident.
All the firearms officers involved in this operation have provided statements to the IPCC but they have all turned down a request to be interviewed. The IPCC does not have the power to compel them to answer questions about what happened there.
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