A police officer faces murder charges in the shooting death of a Black man in London last year.
According to BBC News, the unidentified Met Police officer will appear Thursday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where he will be formally charged in the case of Chris Kaba, 24, who died following a police operation on Sept. 5, 2022.
After a referral from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the Crown Prosecution Service has had the evidence file since March.
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS special crime section, said they undertook a “thorough review of the evidence.”
Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Helen Millichap called the charge decision a “significant and serious development” in the probe, adding that the organization “fully supported the IOPC investigation” and that “our thoughts are with everyone affected by this case.”
“We must now allow the court process to run its course,” Millichap said, BBC reported, “so it would not be appropriate for me to say more at this stage.”
Kaba, a construction worker months away from becoming a father, was unarmed and suffered a single gunshot wound when a Met Police officer fired into his vehicle. He died in the hospital the following morning.
IOPC had earlier stated that a thorough check of the car and the immediate area had turned up no “non-police issue firearm.”
The police watchdog said the officer and Kaba’s family received word of the forthcoming charges on Wednesday morning. The officer is presently suspended, and Met Police said the agency will review misconduct issues after the criminal case has been resolved.
“Chris was so very loved by our family and all his friends. He had a bright future ahead of him, but his life was cut short,” Kaba’s family said in a joint statement, BBC reported. “Our family and our wider community must see justice for Chris.”
The Met Police Federation supports the officer in question, a spokesman said.
The federation spokesman contended that working as a firearms officer in London is “one of the toughest jobs in the world” and that the decision to file charges would “leave serving Metropolitan Police colleagues concerned as they go about their extremely difficult and dangerous work.”
TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!