COP SHOOTING SUSPECT ‘WAS CAUGHT WITH A GUN AT SCHOOL’
Classmate says De Zoysa ‘wasn’t afraid to break rules’
COMPLEX Louis de Zoysa, aged 11, pupils said he was ‘awkward’ and surfed the dark web
THE man suspected of shooting dead a sergeant in a police station was caught with an air gun at school, a former pupil has claimed.
Louis De Zoysa, 23, arrested for allegedly carrying ammunition before the fatal shooting of Sergeant Matt Ratana, was also said to surf the dark web as a teen.
Son of a translator mother and Sri Lankan yoga teacher father, he attended the Roman Catholic all-boys John Fisher School in Purley, London.
The former classmate, now 23, said: “I was told he got in trouble for bringing some kind of air gun into school. He didn’t show signs that he was obsessed with guns but he knew a lot.”
The former pupil claimed De Zoysa told him how he would surf the dark web. He said: “That was in 2015 and it was the first time I had heard of it.
“He was calculated in that way and he had a kind of anti-establishment attitude. He was one of the people at school who wasn’t afraid to break the rules.”
The former pupil said De Zoysa was
“a bit awkward, a bit weird” and was among the brightest pupils in the year. De Zoysa reportedly went on to study mechanical engineering at University College London, but dropped out after a year. He remains in a critical condition in hospital after appearing to shoot himself during the incident.
A second suspect remains in custody at a London police station on suspicion of supplying a firearm. He was arrested on Sunday in Norwich, Norfolk.
Police last night continued to search De Zoysa’s family home in Norbury, London, and an address in Banstead, Surrey. The search of this site, which includes more than 30 acres of land is expected to take days.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy, responsible for the investigation, said: “The murder of Sgt Ratana sent shockwaves through the Met. His colleagues are determined to find justice for him and his family.”
Sgt Ratana was shot at a custody suite in Croydon, south London, early on Friday. He was preparing to search a handcuffed suspect. Police near Wellington, in the officer’s native New Zealand, performed a traditional Maori Haka dance in tribute yesterday.
His murder has sent shockwaves through the Met, we are determined to find justice STUART CUNDY DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, METROPOLITAN POLICE