Never Give a British Cop a Gun

If you didn't know it, British cops do not carry guns. I believe they just carry those billyclubs. However, a group of British law enforcement officers were carrying guns today in response to the recent terrorism in London. And, well, they fatally shot a suspected terrorist. Fatally shot him five times. Now the facts are pretty unclear right now. Hell, maybe the guy was wearing a t-shirt that said "I'm a Terrorist" on it or maybe he had a bomb strapped on with wires coming out all over his body from his ears to his ass, but, so far, all we've heard is that he was looking around furtively, was wearing a padded jacket or coat in the middle of summer, did not respond to verbal confrontation, and ran away from cops. Suspicious? Yes. Worthy of "shoot to kill"? Umm..debatable. One witness described the scene to CNN as follows:

Mark Whitby, who was on the train at Stockwell, said the train was stopped and had its doors open when he heard authorities shout: "Get down! Get out!" He saw a man wearing a thick coat running onto the train so fast that he "half-tripped."
The man was being pursued by three men, one carrying a black handgun, Whitby said. When the man tripped, he fell down, and one of the pursuers dropped onto him while another fired five times.

Oh, and those cops chasing this guy...they were plainclothed. So either we've got a terrorist fleeing law enforcement or we've got a foreigner who barely speaks English fleeing from plainclothed men yelling and waving a gun. Oh, and the padded coat that no honest citizen would ever wear in the summer? Seems that the balmy U.K. got to a record high of 75 degrees this week. Hardly what I'd call a heat wave. When my relatives from the Philippines first came to the U.S. to live they were absolutely freezing to death in the summer in Florida. They wore sweaters and hats. And, did I mention the murdered suspect was reportedly South Asian? So now we've either got a terrorist or a newly arrived and confused South Asian immigrant.

Ok, so maybe I don't know the whole story and maybe it was obvious this guy was a serious threat and should have been shot five times after he tripped while running onto a train.

All the more reason NOT to kill him, eh? Likely to have a wealth of important information I'd say. Maybe some details on his buddies, the terror network behind all the bombings, etc., etc.....the location of Bin Laden? Coulda shot him in the leg or maybe just twice instead of five times.

Gawd...how are we ever going to win this war?