Cop tells how he gunned down terrorist

An armed police officer told a court he feared he was about to be killed when he opened fire on an Islamist fanatic, moments after he knifed two pedestrians.

Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead after he went on a minute-long stabbing spree with an 8in carving knife he stole from a shop on Streatham High Road, south London, on 2 February 2020.

Amman had been jailed for 40 months for amassing a stash of terror documents including bomb-making and knife fighting manuals in December 2018.

He bragged how he wanted to become a suicide bomber and kill the Queen and while serving his sentence in Belmarsh Prison in Woolwich.

Amman was also involved in the radicalisation of other inmates in the maximum-security jail, including the Manchester Arena bomber’s brother Hashem Abedi.

A senior Met Police officer wrote to the governor of HMP Belmarsh on 15 January asking if Amman’s release could be delayed but was told it was not possible, jurors have heard.

Amman was set free on 23 January and resided at an approved probation hostel in Streatham.

Surveillance officer BX75, who cannot be named, told the inquest at the High Court he was armed with a taser and pistol as he began following Amman from a probation hostel in Streatham on 2 February.

‘He walked very slowly, unnaturally slowly,’ said BX75.

‘He was fully in my mind a dangerous individual who was aspiring to carry out some form of attack and was committed in that attack to continue until he was stopped.

 

‘I got out with my equipment with me and held at the junction of Shrubbery Road and Streatham High Road.

‘I took a good look at him, I was just on the other side of the road, so no more than five metres.

‘He was dressed as described and I noticed that the puffer jacket was thick and bulky.

‘He looked like he had a lot of layers underneath.

‘I looked at [the] bag and noticed that it appeared to be virtually empty to me.

‘My concern was at the time he possibly had something in there, possibly a knife.

‘I wasn’t thinking of what he was hiding with it, that wasn’t my thought process. It was more what was in that bag.

After following Amman along Streatham High Road for some time, BX75 heard on his radio that he had gone into the Low Price Store.

‘I was told it was the type of premises that sold all sorts of bits and pieces including cutlery and knives.

‘My team leader asked if somebody would go into the shop and join Mr Amman as well.’

BX75 then heard a message from one of his colleagues on his radio informing him that Amman had begun to attack members of the public.

‘My immediate thought was Mr Amman was killing people a matter of metres ahead of me.

‘I was expecting to make my way forward there and see him stabbing people, cutting their heads off, that was what initially went through my mind.

‘I made my way southbound on that footway, the west footway as quickly as I could.

‘There were a lot of people. A normal Sunday, pre-covid afternoon.

‘He had a large butcher’s knife… at least 8-inches long.

‘It was my belief it was in his left hand, it was held up in front of him, it wasn’t hidden in any way shape, or form.

‘I saw him, he saw me.

‘I am 100 percent confident that we locked eyes and it was my immediate assessment that I was running towards him, he was running towards me, the point of impact was going to be very soon.

‘I thought he was going to stab me or kill me, or at least seriously injure me.

‘I fired a shot, a single shot.’

The first shot missed and Amman ran past the officer towards Boots, still brandishing the knife.

‘I followed him with my pistol,’ said BX75.

‘I think he was no more than a metre from me at the time, he continued to run past me.

‘It was my assessment he still posed a grave threat to any member of the public he came into contact with so I kept my pistol out.

‘I was running at that stage.

‘Again, we locked eyes and we sort of looked at each other.

‘The door behind him to the Boots was opening and closing.

‘He was looking past me, over my shoulders, looking to my left and to my right, rocking forward as well.

‘I was looking at the knife which was held at shoulder height, brandishing if you will.

‘He was going to stab me, attack my colleague, attack anyone who came out of Boots that didn’t know what was going on inside or turn and run into Boots and continue his attack.

‘I was convinced he was making a decision then and there of who to attack.

‘He was so close to me and moving towards me with the knife that I was in immediate fear for my life.

‘I fired a shot at his chest area, a single shot.

‘Mr Amman remained standing where he was…I saw no visible reaction from him, nothing at all.

‘The threat was still there, he was still exactly the same threat to me as he was before I fired the first shot, so I fired a second shot.

‘He fell pretty immediately after that second shot.

‘He dropped the knife, the knife fell out of his hands as he fell to the floor.

‘BX87 stepped forward and kicked the knife out of his hands.

‘I saw the white plastic JD sports bag had moved from his chest area enough that I saw the tops of three or four plastic bottles attached to his chest.

‘I took them to be a viable explosive device.

‘His arms were thrashing around.

‘I knew armed police vehicles would be approaching.

‘Three more colleagues had arrived and they had firearms cover on Mr Amman.

‘I was aware that members of the public had been stabbed so I thought my time might be best spent assisting them.

‘I saw a man bleeding profusely from a wound to his abdomen.

‘I said let’s go to the injured male and let’s give him first aid and let’s help him out there.’

Giving evidence BX87, who cannot be named, told the inquest he was deployed on 2 February as part of a covert team tracking Amman.

Prior to the deployment, BX87 and other officers were given a briefing by another officer, known only as BX174, who appeared unusually solemn and sombre.

‘He’s a funny guy, he normally makes us laugh, he’s usually got a very relaxed demeanour,’ said BX87.

‘On 1 February, he was different, he seemed very concerned about the risk Mr Amman posed.’

BX87 followed Amman after he left exited his approved probation hostel in Streatham on the afternoon of 2 February.

He continued to hear communications from other officers on the team as to Amman’s movements.

‘I heard that after a few minutes Mr Amman had started walking northbound away from the approved premises and then shortly afterward, I heard that he had started walking westbound in the general direction of Streatham High Road.

‘BX113 asked me to go ahead towards Streatham High Road.

‘I was ahead of him, I went onto Sunnyhill Road and then walked myself up to Streatham High Road where I turned right.

‘[Amman] stopped and he looked up and down the road a few times.

‘After a short time, he turned left and started walking away from me down Streatham High Road.

‘I heard [BX89] state that Mr Amman had entered a shop.

‘It was described by BX89 as a hardware-type store that sells everything.

‘I immediately started walking back towards Streatham High Road. I realised that my team leader BX113 would request an officer to go into the shop with Mr Amman.

‘I turned left and started walking towards what I believed to be the correct shop.

‘I asked BX89 to guide me in as I didn’t want to go into the wrong premises.

‘He said he could see Mr Amman just inside the doorway of that shop.

‘I got to within 15-20 metres of the store.

‘I heard what I would describe as a commotion coming from the entrance.

‘Immediately after, I saw Mr Amman, just his head above some of the items that were stacked outside the store.

‘Immediately after this, he just ran.

‘I then immediately saw a really large knife in his right hand which he had outstretched in front of him.

‘I would describe it as a carbon knife, the blade was 15-20 centimetres long.

‘It was between waist and shoulder height.

‘He immediately turned left away from me, he didn’t look at me, he just immediately started sprinting in the opposite direction away from me.

‘My immediate reaction was to start chasing after Mr Amman.

‘He approached a lady with a pink jacket. I saw the blade of the knife.

‘I saw him plunge it into her upper back. I was sprinting at the same time and I was say about 15-20 metres behind Mr Amman at this point.

‘My focus was very much on Mr Amman and the knife, however.

‘She immediately spun around as if someone had punched her.

‘He was going along stabbing everyone he was close enough to as he ran.

‘Immediately after he had stabbed the lady, I heard him shout really clearly “Allah Akbar”.

‘It was at this moment that it really dawned on me that this was a terror attack really and he was looking to attack numerous people.

‘I remember just intermittently seeing him. I was having to avoid pedestrians and street furniture.

‘I wasn’t able to keep direct sight of him throughout the chase.

‘I remember being near to the road, or suddenly in the road, at which point Mr Amman stopped, he turned round and as he did, I remember my momentum carrying me forwards towards him.

‘It took me a while to process the fact that he had stopped. I closed the gap to around five metres maybe.

‘Simultaneously at this point, I drew my firearm.

‘He immediately turned round. It was at this point, I saw the knife he was holding in his right hand, it was away from his side and it was stretched out in front of his body, the blade was pointed towards me.

‘It was almost like a cartoon, the blade of the knife almost doubled in size.

‘I remember his body being countered forward, knife outstretched, it was clear to me he was intent on attacking me or other members of the public.

BX87 grew audibly upset as he recounted the moments before the shooting in which Amman appeared to lunge towards him holding the knife.

‘I saw Mr Amman take a number of paces towards me.

‘It really dawned on me at this point that I was potentially going to get stabbed.

‘I thought he was going to attack me essentially and try and kill me.

‘I fired a shot at him aiming at his central body mass.

‘Nothing changed.

‘I was shouting drop the knife, drop the knife constantly.

‘I fired a further number of rounds which I now know about three in total, still aiming at the central body mass of Mr Amman.

‘I knew it was more than one, my training is such that we fire as many shots as necessary until we see a positive reaction.

‘Yes, at this stage, Mr Amman fell to the ground.

‘He fell with his feet facing the shop which I now know was boots, he was partially on his side, partially on his back.

‘I remember his right hand being outstretched towards me and the knife was still in his hadn’t at that point.

‘There was a moment when his hand was still on the knife, and immediately afterwards.

‘It appeared that he had released the knife. I then stepped in and kicked the knife away with the intention of giving him first aid.

‘As I stepped in and kicked the knife away, at exactly the same time, I then heard BX75 shout ‘the device the device’

‘I then saw that Mr Amman had what I believed to be an explosive vest strapped to his chest.

‘I saw two or three dull coloured cylinder shaped objects which were strapped to him by some sort of black strapping which I couldn’t describe.

‘I saw it just for a split second.

‘I thought it was an explosive device I immediately retracted, I thought potentially I was going to get blown up by whatever it was.

‘I would always treat it as a real device unless I had other information telling me otherwise.

‘As I backed away I saw his hands move in front of his body and he seemed to be sort of having a bit of a fit or something similar.

‘His arms were sort of shaking uncontrollably.

‘Yes, I put on my police cap so I could be identified by other officers and also a face-covering balaclava snood over my face.

‘I was basically tapped on the shoulder by a uniformed armed officer who I explained very briefly the circumstances to.

‘He said he was there to relieve me from my post.’

The inquest continues.

ends.