Whoops

So, it’s slowly emerging that the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes was even worse than had previously been speculated. I’ve suspected that this story was going to be a nightmare (and have said so previously) and now it looks like going roughly the way I thought.

So now the media are already asking “what went wrong?”. I’d be more tempted to ask “what went right?” – because the answer to the former is “everything” and to the latter is “nothing”. Let’s look at the list…

• Menezes wasn’t positively identified as the suspect when he left the building, because the relevant officer was having a piss. Good start
• Menezes wasn’t wearing a heavy coat, and was actually wearing a denim shirt/jacket
• Menezes perhaps ran to catch a train that was already at the platform
• Menezes wasn’t warned he was being followed, or given a warning before being shot
• Menezes wasn’t positively identified as the suspect, although it seems that assumptions were made that “someone else” had identified him

Is there even that much of a resemblance between the two men?

Suspect :  Target :

The entire thing is a catalogue of screw-ups, errors, and mis-communication. With no warning being given, 8 shots to the head, and that (according to the leaked documents) he was being held down by a community police officer before being shot, surely this just looks more and more like an execution?