UK police officer who shot unarmed Black man suspended

LONDON (AP) — A police officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man in London has been suspended from duty, the British capital’s Metropolitan Police force said.

Chris Kaba, 24, was killed in south London on Sept. 5 after police pursued his car and tried to stop it. His vehicle was hemmed in by two police cars in a narrow residential street in the Streatham Hill neighborhood, and one round was fired from a police weapon.

Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Amanda Pearson said Monday the firearms officer was suspended partly because of the “significant impact on public confidence.”

“We understand how concerned communities are, particularly Black communities, and thank those who are working closely with our local officers,” she said.

The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, launched a homicide investigation last week into Kaba’s death.

The office said the shooting came after the activation of an automatic number plate recognition camera, which indicated that the vehicle Kaba was driving was linked to a firearms incident in previous days. It said the car that Kaba was driving wasn’t registered to him.

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