Wood Green shooting: firearms officer arrested

A police marksman has been arrested after shooting a suspect dead in Wood Green last week.

Jermaine Baker, 28, was shot in the neck as he sat in a car near Wood Green Crown Court in north London on Friday morning.

Although some media reports have suggested Baker was a "gangster", The Guardian says he did not feature on the Metropolitan Police's databases of gang members.

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Cindy Butts, a commissioner at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, revealed that a homicide investigation was looking at how far Baker was from a weapon allegedly found inside the car.

She told a public meeting that the firearms officer, who was suspended from duty on Wednesday, had been arrested and interviewed under criminal caution on Thursday afternoon.

Butts stressed that the arrest did not mean the officer would be charged.

Two other men who were in the car have been charged with plotting to help release two prisoners, who were being brought to Wood Green Crown Court that day.

Butts told the meeting that no helpful CCTV footage had been identified and that the officers were not wearing body cameras. The latter revelation drew angry criticism and shouts of "Why?"

Baker's family have been upset by media reports he was a gang member. Chief Superintendent Victor Olisa confirmed that Met databases hold no information suggesting the deceased man had gang affiliations, saying: "They don't indicate Jermaine was a gang member."

Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said he does not have access to the IPCC's homicide investigation as it is an independent body – but he described it as "an unusual turn of events".

Baker was from Tottenham, an area that has seen tense relations between the police and the black community for several decades.

Wood Green shooting: man dies in police operation

11 December

A man has been shot and killed during a police operation in north London, Scotland Yard has said.

The operation was carried out by armed officers in Wood Green this morning.

An air ambulance was called but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, reports the BBC.

The Metropolitan Police said the operation was not related to terrorism but was "intelligence-led".

It added that the force's Directorate of Professional Standards, the internal investigator for the Met, had been informed.

One member of public on Twitter reported seeing "police everywhere" and officers wearing balaclavas at the scene, according to the BBC.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said its investigators were heading to the scene and would oversee the accounts given by the officers involved.

It appears no other people were injured during the operation.

According to Sky News, four men have been arrested and are being held at separate police stations in London. Two of the men were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to facilitate the escape of an individual from custody.

Today the Met launched a crackdown on gun and knife crime in a series of raids involving hundreds of specialist officers.