Jury vindicates London police over riots killing
Anger greets jury finding that UK police acted lawfully when they shot dead an unarmed man in a 2011 incident that sparked mass rioting in the British capital
An inquest jury on Wednesday largely vindicated London police over the fatal shooting that set off a wave of rioting across England more than two years ago, finding that officers acted lawfully when they shot 29-year-old gang member Mark Duggan.
The jury found that the mixed-race father of two did not have a gun in his hand when he was shot, but said it was likely he’d thrown the weapon away in the seconds before he was confronted by police. Officers truly believed he was armed, they found.
The jurors’ decision drew outrage from Duggan’s family, who spoke to reporters outside the courthouse and insisted justice had not been done. One family member shouted an obscenity at jurors as they left the court. Supporters chanted “no justice, no peace” and nearly drowned out a police press statement.
“The family are in a state of shock ... They can’t believe that this has been the outcome,” family lawyer Marcia Willis Stewart said. “No gun in his hand and yet he was killed – murdered as they have said – no gun in his hand.”
The unrest that followed the August 4, 2011, shooting spread across days, causing hundreds of millions in property damage and killing five people – three of whom were run over by a car while trying to protect their shops. Images of masked youths raiding department stores, of massive fires, and of police skirmishes shocked the country a year ahead of the Olympic Games.
One academic said Wednesday’s decision could play an important role in shaping the nation’s understanding of the riots if it could get people talking about why police blundered, and why Duggan’s death prompted such fury.
