Police shoot man dead in east London
Investigation launched after officers fatally shoot armed man in his forties after he called 999
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A man in his forties has been shot dead by police in east London in the early hours of this morning.
Officers were called by a man making threats and claiming he was in possession of a firearm at an address in Collier Row just before 4am.
Two ambulance crews, two single responders in cars and two incident response officers attended the location and were informed the man had left the address, armed with a firearm.
Around 50 minutes later, the man was shot by police. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 05:17am.
Forensics officers could be seen moving a tent into the Esso petrol station on Collier Row Road shortly before 11am.
Local resident Angela Dorman was heading to work when she saw a "large police cordon" and "lots of police sirens".
She told the BBC: “Collier Row Road is usually very busy with traffic at this time of the morning. Traffic was being diverted up Lodge Lane which I thought was unusual and just knew something was wrong.
"As I got to the Esso garage I could see white tarpaulin covering something, there were also gloves and tissues lying on the ground. I could see one police officer standing on the garage's concourse."
Tracy Green, 39, who lives around 100 yards from the station, said she was woken up by two gunshots. “I was just turning over and heard 'bang, bang' and thought 'oh that sounded like gunshots' It's crazy really. It's too close to home,” she said.
Andrew Rosindell, Romford's Conservative MP, tweeted: “Shocking incident in Collier Row today, just relieved that no member of the public has been harmed.
"Thank you to the Police for protecting our community. Crime in Havering is rising - Mayor Khan, you have a duty to allocate more resources to our borough!''
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation into the incident.
A spokesperson said: "We have started an independent investigation into a fatal police shooting in Romford this morning. Our investigators have been deployed to the scene and post incident procedure to begin enquiries."
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 4.01am today (9 April) to reports of an incident on Collier Row Road, Romford.
“We sent two ambulance crews, two single responders in cars and two incident response officers to the scene. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance by road.
“Despite extensive efforts, sadly the patient died at the scene.”
So far this year, the IOPC has begun several separate investigations into actions involving the Met Police.
These include a 21-year-old man who was shot at 13 times in Hackney, an officer who was filmed “striking a man during a political protest” and two people who died while in police custody.
The Directorate of Professional Standards, which is responsible for investigating complaints against the professional conduct of officers, has also been informed.