Shooting of Mark Duggan (2011)

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Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old British man, was shot and killed in Tottenham, North London, on 4 August 2011. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that officers were seeking to arrest Duggan on suspicion of plotting an assault and that he was in possession of a handgun. Duggan died of a bullet wound to the chest. The circumstances of Duggan's death lead to public demonstrations in Tottenham, which led to violence with the police and spread to unrest in London and other English cities. [1]

Details of the Event

Mark Duggan

On 4 August 2011, Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in Tottenham, North London, after undercover officers forced the minicab in which he was driving to pull over. When the car came to a halt, Duggan opened the rear door and hopped out. Within seconds, an advancing officer known only by his codename, V53, had fired twice. The first shot passed through Duggan’s arm and struck a second officer, known as W42, in his underarm radio. The second, fatal shot hit Duggan in his chest.

V53 would later inform the police that he saw a pistol in Duggan's possession and that his life was in danger. Duggan was being watched by Operation Trident, a notorious Metropolitan Police force focusing on gun violence in London's Black communities; gun officers pursued him from a nearby conference where he allegedly collected a gun. But following the shooting, the gun in question was found around seven metres away from where Duggan had been shot, on a nearby patch of grass. Yet, no officials detailed that they saw Duggan toss the firearm, or make any sort of tossing movement. [2]

Racial Bias in Policing

The jury decided by a vote of eight to two that the 2011 shooting was lawful. The jury said they were sure, by the same eight-to-two majority, that Duggan had no weapon in his hand when he was surrounded by the police. The jury concluded by a vote that he "threw" the pistol from a taxi he was riding in when the armed officers forced it to halt.

The family described the conclusion of the jury as perverse and said that they would consider a judicial review. Duggan’s aunt, Carole Duggan said that Duggan had been "executed". As the family counsel, Marcia Willis Stewart said that they were just in a state of disbelief and did not believe the result. "The jury found that he had no gun in his hand and yet he was gunned down. For us that's an unlawful killing."

Duggan died "within 10 heartbeats" of a bullet that entered his aorta. The jury was informed by the police that Duggan was a member of the TMD, Tottenham Man Dem, who officers claimed had links to the weapons used in nightclubs. The cop who shot Duggan twice, identified as V53, testified that he had seen a pistol in Duggan's right hand and suspected that the man was about to use it. V53 said he acted in self-defence, believing that his own life or the lives of his colleagues were in danger from Duggan.

In fact, the pistol wrapped in a sock was found three to six meters (10-20ft) away from where the fatally wounded Duggan collapsed to the pavement. The gun was capable of being shot, but it wasn't "racked" because it wasn't ready to fire. Neither the pistol nor the sock had any DNA or Duggan fingerprints on it. Gun residue was still missing from the deceased, except for the speck in his back pocket, which the jurors which the hearers had been told was unimportant. His fingerprints were on a shoebox found inside the taxi where the weapon was thought to have been kept, and indications of the drug ecstasy were in his circulatory system. [3]

Reference

  1. Shooting of Mark Duggan. en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on Feb 3, 2021.
  2. Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, Birnberg PeirceTottenham Rights, The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). THE KILLING OF MARK DUGGAN. June 9, 2020. forensic-architechutre.org.com. Retrieved on Feb 3, 2021.
  3. Dodd, Vikram. Mark Duggan family reacts with fury to inquest verdict of lawful killing. Jan 8, 2014. theguardian.com. Retrieved on Feb 3, 2021.