Officer who shot Jean Charles de Menezes was convinced ‘we were going to die’

A police marksman who shot a man wrongly suspected of being a terrorist after the 7/7 London bombings said he was certain “we were going to die” if he did not act. Jean Charles de Menezes was killed a fortnight after suicide bombers exploded devices on three Tube lines and a London bus on July 7 2005, killing 52 people. The firearms officer, who has remained anonymous for nearly 20 years, has spoken publicly about his actions for the first time as part of Channel 4’s Shoot To Kill: Terror On The Tube documentary.

Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was mistaken for a terrorist on his way to work (family handout/PA) He said Mr de Menezes’ demeanour having been identified as a suspect led him to believe the Brazilian national was about to detonate a bomb. “Reliving it in this detail is painful,” the officer said. “I want to make sure that people understand these decisions, although they’re taken quickly, they’re not taken lightly.

“Because of his actions, what he did, the information we received, it left me with no other conclusion than I had to act or we were going to die.” Would-be suicide bombers targeted the transport network again on July 21, but their devices failed to explode. The following day Mr de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was mistaken for one of the suspects because they were linked to the same block of flats.

He was shot seven times by two marksmen at Stockwell Tube station, south London, after officers followed him onto the train carriage. .