

Jury told how London Bridge attackers shot

A rookie firearms officer has told an inquest how he fell over and shot one of the London Bridge attackers through his legs, fearing he was about to be killed.
The London police officer, known as BX44, told jurors the confrontation with Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, was his first spontaneous firearms incident.
The three attackers were all shot 10 minutes after embarking on a van and knife attack in June 2017 which left eight dead - including two Australians - and 48 injured.
As he got out at Stoney St at London's Borough Market, the police officer saw three Asian men with large knives emerging from a crowd "closing us down", BX44 told the inquest on Thursday.
He fired first at Butt because he thought he was about to kill his colleague BX46, who was first out of their Armed Response Vehicle (ARV).
"The red dot (from the gun's sights) was on him but there was very little reaction and I was surprised he was still coming," BX44 told the Old Bailey in London, giving evidence anonymously.
"I continued to track him and fire shots until I had to break away to deal with Rachid Redouane who at this point was closing us down and was about to kill another colleague, BX45.


"The red dot was on him. I fired shots and there was no immediate reaction. I carried on firing until I had to deal with the third threat of Youssef Zaghba who was on top of me.
"I was backing away trying to create a reactionary gap when I fired and fell backwards and as I fell backwards I fired and from the floor I fired through my legs up to his chest.
"I thought he was about to kill me."
Afterwards, he kicked Zaghba's hand away from his chest, as he assumed he was about to detonate an explosive belt, before moving on to support BX46, he said.
BX44 told how minutes after the first burst of gunfire, he saw Butt's chest rise and fall.
"I did not see his hands but his arms started to move down slowly towards the suicide vest," he said.
"I thought he was going to detonate. I fired shots. They were aimed shots."
The officer said he could hear colleagues also firing from his cover behind a pillar opposite the Wheatsheaf pub.
"I thought he was dead and officers were in the process of moving up to the Wheatsheaf pub to evacuate and during that I again noticed movement and took further shots," he said.
BX44, who fired 17 shots, went on to help in a search for a fourth possible attacker, carried a woman having a seizure to safety, and found three people in a cupboard during a search of the nearby Black and Blue restaurant.
The inquest has heard that one pub-goer in the Wheatsheaf was inadvertently injured by a stray bullet.
© AAP 2020

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