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Azelle Rodney inquiry: Firearms officer had killed before Azelle Rodney inquiry: Firearms officer had killed before
(about 2 hours later)
A police officer who killed a man in north-west London seven years ago had shot two other people dead earlier in his career, an inquiry has heard.A police officer who killed a man in north-west London seven years ago had shot two other people dead earlier in his career, an inquiry has heard.
Azelle Rodney, 24, was shot six times in Edgware after the car he was in was stopped on 30 April 2005.Azelle Rodney, 24, was shot six times in Edgware after the car he was in was stopped on 30 April 2005.
Armed police claimed they feared the occupants were carrying machine guns so they could rob a Colombian drugs gang. Armed police claimed they feared the occupants had a machine gun so that they could rob a Colombian drugs gang.
As they surrounded the vehicle, a specialist firearms officer identified only as E7, opened fire on Mr Rodney. Mr Rodney's mother Susan Alexander walked out of the hearing after accusing the police of lying.
Lawfully killed Commissioner's commendation
After Mr Rodney was shot, detectives found three guns in the car and the other two occupants, Frank Graham and Wesley Lovell, were subsequently jailed for possession of firearms. The inquiry heard that as police surrounded Mr Rodney's vehicle, a specialist firearms officer, identified only as E7, opened fire on him.
The inquiry into Mr Rodney's death heard that E7 had shot two men and injured a further two during an incident in the 1980s. He said he was "convinced" that Mr Rodney had had a gun in his hands.
Ms Alexander interrupted his evidence and asked him: "How many more lies are you going to tell?"
The inquiry also heard that E7 had shot dead two men and injured a further two during an incident in the 1980s.
Inquests into the men's deaths later found they had been lawfully killed and the officer received a commendation from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner for his conduct.Inquests into the men's deaths later found they had been lawfully killed and the officer received a commendation from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner for his conduct.
The two injured men were later tried and jailed.The two injured men were later tried and jailed.
An inquiry is being held into Mr Rodney's death instead of an inquest because of sensitive information that would have to be withheld from a coroner. E7 said that on the day he had opened fire on Mr Rodney, he had seen him looking left and right and ducking down in the back seat of the car.
Ballistic shield The officer opened fire less than a second after pulling up beside the car, which had been under surveillance for several hours.
On the day Mr Rodney was killed, E7 said he was concerned that the three men in the car might have a sub-machine gun. He said: "His [Mr Rodney's] posture was of someone who was preparing to fire a weapon.
The VW Golf they were in had been under surveillance for several hours before it was brought to a stop. "I'm as convinced today as I was on the day that Azelle Rodney had a gun in his hands.
E7 opened fire within a second of pulling up beside the car. "It was nothing to do with the fact I couldn't see his hands, it was everything about his body language that he had picked up a firearm and was prepared to use it.
He said the officers feared the gang had "a fairly compact weapon that could fire in excess of 1,000 rounds a minute, that's 18 rounds per second". "It led me to believe I had no choice but to open fire."
"The reality is that these people would be untrained, and actually an untrained person with a high-capacity, high-repetition sub-machine gun is more dangerous than a trained person," he said. E7 gave no verbal warning before opening fire, because he said there had not been enough time.
He tried putting a ballistic shield in the car he was using, but it blocked access to the door handle. 'Threat to colleagues'
When asked why he had done this, he said: "I was the person that was going to be right next to someone with a sub-machine gun. The officer said he had shot Mr Rodney six times because he had thought the rounds were having no effect.
"It wasn't the first time that we had confronted dangerous people armed with that type of weaponry. He said: "These things happen very quickly. My impression was that my rounds had no effect on him whatsoever.
"This was high on the scale of danger but it was certainly no more dangerous than other operations that we'd carried out over the years." "I saw nothing that implied that he was no longer a threat to my colleagues."
The hearing was told that E7 received a commander's commendation in the 1990s after an armed stand-off with a gunman in a minicab office. He said they believed the men had had a sub-machine gun that could fire in excess of 1,000 rounds a minute.
In 2004, the Independent Police Complaints Commission recommended that E7 was given "words of advice" after an armed operation. After Mr Rodney was shot, detectives found three guns in the car and the other two people in the vehicle, Frank Graham and Wesley Lovell, were subsequently jailed for possession of firearms.
It was claimed that he left a police car without permission during the operation to test his radio and buy coffee. An inquiry is being held into Mr Rodney's death instead of an inquest because of sensitive intelligence information that would have to be withheld from a coroner.
E7 said his superiors thought it was "a storm in a teacup" and did not give him advice. The hearing, which began on 3 September, continues.
A man was killed during the operation but E7 was not directly involved.
He said: "Nothing I did delayed us getting to the scene at all."