LONDON (AP) - The man shot and killed on a subway car by London police in front of horrified commuters apparently had nothing to do with this month's bombings on the city's transit system, police said Saturday in expressing their ``regrets.''
A day earlier, the police commissioner said the man was ``directly linked'' to Thursday's attacks, in which bombs on three subway trains and a bus failed to detonate properly. No one was injured.
``For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets,'' a police spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
The man, whose identity has not been released, was shot Friday at a subway station in the south London neighborhood of Stockwell. Witnesses said the man appeared to be South Asian and was wearing a heavy padded coat when police chased him into a subway car, pinned him to the ground and shot him in the head and torso."
The man died after being shot by officers at the Stockwell subway station in south London, police said.
Passengers said a man, described as South Asian, ran onto a train at Stockwell station in south London. Witnesses said police chased him, he tripped, and police then shot him.
"They pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him. He's dead," witness Mark Whitby told the British Broadcasting Corp. "He looked like a cornered fox. He looked petrified."
Whitby said the man did not appear to have been carrying anything but said he was wearing a thick coat that looked padded.
Aha! So he was wearing a thick coat that looked padded! Thank goodness the bastard was shot! He deserved it all right.
Even though he tripped, fell and had two plain clothes police officers kneeling on him when a third one emptied 5 shots from a Nine millimeter pistol into his head, it was the right thing to do because he had a padded jacket on and could have had his jacket set to display the liner if he clicked his teeth.
Jolly good show!