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Police Shoot Wrong Man
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Police say the man they shot dead at a London Underground station was a Brazilian national "not connected" with this week's attempted bombings on the city's transit system.
London police identified the man as 27-year-old Jean Charles de Menezes.
A spokesman for the Brazilian Embassy said Foreign Minister Celso Amorim would arrive in London Sunday for a scheduled United Nations conference. Amorim has asked to meet with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw or another high-level official to discuss the shooting.
"For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets," the police statement said Saturday.
During a news conference following Friday's shooting, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said "this shooting is directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation."
Despite the apparent setback, Blair said Saturday he was pleased with the probe and the work that investigators are doing.
"I think the Metropolitan Police [are] performing absolutely outstandingly, and I'm very proud of them," he said.
De Menezes on Friday left a south London apartment building that had been under surveillance as part of the investigation into Thursday's attempted bombings.
Officers followed him to the Stockwell Underground station. The man's "clothing and suspicious behavior at the station added to their suspicions," a police statement said.
He challenged police and refused to obey orders before he was shot and killed Friday morning, Blair said Friday.
A witness to the shooting, Mark Whitby, said he was sitting on the train when "I heard a lot of shouting."
"I saw a chap run on to the train," Whitby said. "He was running so fast he half sort of tripped. He was being pursued by three guys. One had a black handgun in his hand."
"As he sort of went down, two of them sort of dropped on to him to hold him down, and the other one fired. I heard five shots."
A cousin of Menezes said his family was angry over the death, challenging police statements that he failed to obey orders and jumped a ticket barrier.
Menezes, an electrician who had lived in Britain about four years, had a multiple-day pass and had no reason to jump the barrier, he said.
"To say 'sorry' is not enough," said Alex Alves Pereira.
Friday's shooting is a rarity in London, where police generally are not armed except for special response units.
Police carried out an armed raid Saturday in south London, the latest in a series of sweeps across the city in connection with Thursday's incidents.
One man was taken into custody in Brixton after he approached a police barrier during the raid, authorities said. His connection to the probe, if any, was unclear.
Two men were arrested Friday in Stockwell, south London, for questioning. They have not been identified.
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Basically, the shot the wrong guy. Great Job!
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