tv Sportsday BBC News February 2, 2020 6:30pm-6:46pm GMT
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tried to intervene and that police tried to intervene and actually prompted this attack as a response to the earlier intervention. it could be that the police had succeeded in stopping something that could have been so much worse and could have involved more people. a lot of questions for the police to answer. they have thousands of suspects that they are trying to track all the time and who they think could be a potential risk. it is a nightmare trying to grade two is the real risk and two is less of a risk and who is a more immediate threat and who has been radicalised over the long—term, who is talking to two who, who is the network, i am sure this questions will be gone over in the coming days as the information emerges about what relationship they have had with this guy and whether anybody was involved. had they arrested anyone? where there are others involved? the police may be holding. that doesn't look like the case because they have said the scene has been contained. whether others in the background to maybe help in the preparation?
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we initially thought was two people injured and taken to hospital, but now there are three people. some eyewitnesses said they thought more than three people had been stabbed at one stage. the description is that this guy ran into a shop and started stabbing people. so there we re started stabbing people. so there were people in the shop, out on the pavement trying to give first aid. we know that the paramedics were there quite quickly, the ambulance service responded within four minutes. but at least one chap on social media said he tried to give first aid social media said he tried to give firstaid and social media said he tried to give first aid and it felt like a long wait before any paramedics arrived. but certainly a huge response in reaction to this, and now the investigation work is the real priority, try to keep everyone safe and trying to establish what had gone on on the build up to this. and trying to establish what had gone on on the build up to thism could be possible that this incident was never meant to happen. quite possibly, because one early question was why here? it's a busy street, a
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shopping centre that would be known to be busy on a sunday afternoon, but it's not a high—profile target, it's not buckingham palace or the houses of parliament. it doesn't have that sort of impact, but if you wa nted have that sort of impact, but if you wanted to cause a mass casualty attack, it would not be obvious why here. so it is possible that maybe this guy was heading somewhere else to meet others, perhaps something bigger was planned and the police stop that coming to fruition. a lot of questions, lots of uncertainty, and an appeal for police to come out and an appeal for police to come out and say hold on, we're trying to establish a full picture here. we know there is speculation and rumour on social media, some gruesome pictures of the aftermath of this which we are choosing not to show, but which are circulating is a part of these events now, i'm afraid, that we see witnesses filling things off life, helping us build up a picture of what happened and exactly who was involved. we've seen the nature of the police response, the different armed units involved, but
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police appealing for some sensitivity around the victims of the attack and the officers involved whose conduct will now be scrutinised. dan johnson, who's been monitoring that story for the past few hours, bringing us all the very latest. let's also hear from some people who were nearby. it's a busy pa rt people who were nearby. it's a busy part of london as dan was alluding to. because it was so busy, not only we re to. because it was so busy, not only were people filming and bringing each other, they were also the first to talk to journalists at the scene. this is what we heard from some of the local people that gives you a flavour of the confusion there was, and people trying to figure what was going on around them. we just live over there and we just heard some cars and we hear them quite often coming down this road, but there seemed to be a lot more and then our friends who also live above us said they heard some shots. i think they said about three orfour went off, so, yeah, that was around... do you know what time that was? probably around 2pm? two—ish, yeah.
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we had just come back from going to the shops and... yeah, it's a bit scary. i heard that it was a shooting, that somebody was stabbing people and they have to shoot him. and what else? nothing more. how many shots did you hear? about three. and what happened then? what did you do? ijust run, run for my life. how frightening was that? very frightening. i'm still shaking. people who were nearby at the time of the shooting. reaction to the incident in streatham has been coming in from senior political figures. the home secretary priti patel said she was... meanwhile the mayor of london,
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sadiq khan said he was... earlier, my colleaguejames reynolds spoke to peter power. he's a former met police officer with the anti—terrorism branch and author of the uk government's guide book "preventing chaos in crisis". james began by asking him about the police tactics on occasions like this. well, the police tactics i have been observing are those that have been rehearsed and have been ready and waiting for quite some time. we saw them not long ago in the london bridge attack. we have to think about the threat level and it wasn't all that long ago that the government reduced it, actually, to substantial, but that still means a terrorist attack is highly likely, so what you're now seeing on the screens is part of a rehearsed plan, unanticipated series of events,
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by the police and they are trying to find out not only who this person is, but who the accomplices were. i've certainly come across one story saying that it could have been a car chase. it begs the question, could there have been some terrorist attempt somewhere else that has just come to a sad conclusion on the streets of streatham? and the attacks that we have had to cover and you have followed in recent years have largely happened around central london, i think of borough, london bridge, westminster and so on. the fact that this attack happened in streatham, we don't know the motives of the attacker, but what you draw from that, if anything? it is a very interesting question, because 20 years ago a chap called david copeland, who was a terrorist — a home—grown terrorist — you might him, from central london and he did some terrorism in brixton, just around the corner, but you are right to point out that not surprisingly central london has the greatest
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intensity of armed police. obviously, you have the royal family there. you have the politicians in the house of commons and so on. when you move out of london towards the suburban area, it is still classed as central london or on the threshold and in the middle of london is an even tighter area known as the government security zone, but the fact that it has now without, if that is a case, is slightly worrying. there is at least one report that i have seen saying this could be the conclusion of a car chase which puts a very different emphasis on it. we have seen some of those reports of a car chase. we have even seen one report which we were reporting on the bbc breaking news page suggesting that one of the cars might have crashed, and that potentially leads to the suggestion that streatham may not have been the target of the attack, but i would like to move on to the actual police tactics. can you talk through the decision that the officers would have had to make in real time?
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we have had one potential statement from a witness saying that the attacker might have carried silver canisters. what kind of decisions with the police officers have been making? well, the police force in london goes through an intense period of training. it has certainly been a long time since i was in the counterterrorism, but you are aware of the amount of training that they carry out had of course the amount of equipment that they had. it is unsurpassed from what it was when we were dealing with the irish republican army. altogether different. so the officers that we are now watching would have gone to so many selective tests and training and exercises where they are put through their paces. what if it is chemical or biological, what if it is a knife, what if it is a chap with a suicide vest? the officers had to carry out very snap decisions and it is left to them sometimes on the street to make a decision quickly of do you shoot or don't shoot. it is external difficult for the officers to undertake training, and moreover when it comes to the crunch, so they had been
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trained, they have gone on exercises, but nothing really quite prepares you 100% for the reality. so this is, as i said at the beginning, a rehearsed, trained routine. i am quite sure of that. but it is early days yet. what kind of difficulties — i don't know if you have been able to see the pictures from streatham high road — what kind of difficulties with the officers had faced dealing with an incident in such a crowded, busy shopping street? that is a very good question. i can remember doing some training myself a long time ago, trying to work out how do you deal with somebody if you are armed who is running around in heathrow airport, for example? lots of people. now, streatham high street in that sense is very similar. lots of people on a saturday afternoon. so when you discharge a firearm, the bullet very rarelyjust stops whenever it hits the intended target. other bullets go flying off everywhere. and the chances of collateral entry to members of the public is high. but that is one of the things they have to consider.
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the truth of it is... sorry. no, i was going to say, obviously there is an interaction between uniformed officers and officers in plainclothes. clearly, you would not want to give away tactics, but how important is it to have plainclothes officers responding as well? well, if there is going to be a police operation, as we were talking about a few minutes ago, they came to the conclusion in streatham that actually it started somewhere else, that is another matter, the actual armed response vehicles normally contain three heavily armed officers, as we saw in recent years with the soldier who was killed on duty in woolwich and more recently two attacks in london bridge. those vehicles are constantly on the move, although in central london, they do have a certain number of posts where they are parked ready to go even when they are called. and clearly once you cross over westminster bridge, for example, from central london into the outer bounds of what some people might call central london, they can get there pretty quickly.
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plainclothes officers involved indicates an investigation ongoing beyond that i think it would be pretty unwise to comment. peter power speaking there. this is what streatham high road looks like, a completely different scene to what was going on a few hours ago just after 2pm where it was the scene of after 2pm where it was the scene of a very, very dramatic event. the details are emerging very slowly, but we are getting several eyewitnesses saying what they have seen eyewitnesses saying what they have seenin eyewitnesses saying what they have seen in those hours. one has been speaking to the bbc‘s home affairs correspondent daniel sanford, saying that around 2pm this afternoon, they we re that around 2pm this afternoon, they were walking up the street approaching the whitehorse pub in streatham, and they were stopped by a woman in distress shouting her head off, saying don't go any further, he stabbed us with a knife,
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he stabbed her in the back. the same woman says half sitting, half lying on the floor with people around her, but no ambulance. we looked up the road, realising that his plainclothes police. the woman was pointing to an shouting, "that's the police, they shot the guy!" she went on to say the distressed woman who stopped us kept pointing at the injured laying, saying "he came in the shop, grabbed a knife, pulled out the knife and walked on the street, and just stabbed that lady also" she was all shocked and not sure what she meant, which shop he came out of, but he did walk into and out of a shot, and at some point pulled out a knife and went after people. according to one eyewitness, around 2pm on the street we are looking at right now, which is the scene of a very big police investigation, completely cordoned off stratham high road. ——
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streatham. when you stand back and slowly piece every thing together, you start to build a picture. we've heard from daniel sanford and dan johnson earlier and ben brown, from talking to various eyewitnesses that it looks now as if there had been a sequence of events which began with the police blocking a small blue car, and following on from blue car being blocked, someone pursued down streatham high road, going into a shop either already carrying a knife oi’ shop either already carrying a knife or seizing a knife, attacking people inside the shop, running outside the shop, attacking somebody else outside. then a third element in all this where armed police, some of them plainclothes, some of them in uniform, approach a man, and that man is shot. after he's been shot and shot dead, they cautiously approach the body, then apparently pulled back again, according to one eyewitness, which has increased suggestions they were concerned
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about what was wrapped around the man's body. several eye witnesses talk about things like silver canisters under speculation that could have been a suicide belt. you may remember the incident at fish mongers halljust adjacent may remember the incident at fish mongers hall just adjacent to may remember the incident at fish mongers halljust adjacent to the london bridge back in november, the assailant there was wearing what looked like a suicide belt, which made it almost inevitable that they had to shoot first and ask questions later. let's bring in danjohnson. this whole question of the alleged suicide belt, the tactics you that are used, effectively they appear not to be wanting to be taken alive? it's a determined attempt to her because as much harm as possible in a short space of time with the result of death at the hands of the police. it looks like the police we re police. it looks like the police were able to respond to the so quickly the only three people were injured before the terrorist was
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able to be shot and killed stop what exactly happened before that is the real confusing thing here that we are still trying to piece together. it looks like the police themselves are still trying to get clarity on that, perhaps that's why they have been asking people not to go over the speculation that his wife on social media. but i think it points to the fact that there must be more of the back story here, so who are the officers that were following him? what was their level of armaments, their level of involvement with him? did they try and intervene and stop him? that they have the tools to stop him properly? what tools did he have? we've heard reports that he maybe went to the shop to get a knife. eyewitness described as a machete, you don't buy that in boots. it's questionable why he brought that with him or improvise on the spot. but if he wasn't wearing a suicide belt, that's not something you pick up belt, that's not something you pick up in boots. there must‘ve been some preplanning to this, he must of been out to do something and maybe police we re out to do something and maybe police were following to see where this was
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