Friends of ‘gangster’ shot dead by police claim he was asleep
A SUSPECTED gang member gunned down by police was fast asleep at the time, an outspoken activist claimed last night.
The astonishing allegation was made by black rights campaigner Lee Jasper in the wake of the fatal shooting outside a North London courthouse last week.
Jermaine Baker was sitting in a stolen black Audi saloon and a £200 imitation handgun which fires small plastic pellets was found nearby. Investigators suspect he was part of a gang preparing to hold up a Serco van at gunpoint and release two top-level Turkish gangsters.
Now Jasper, who has made a career of clashing with the Metropolitan Police, has made the extraordinary claim that two other men in the car may have woken up only when officers smashed a window.
By this time the 28-year-old was already dying from a single gunshot fired through the windscreen in Wood Green, it is
‘Teetering on edge of another riot’
alleged. Jasper called for an end to the ‘glaring information vacuum’ about the case.
Writing on his blog, the Brixton-based campaigner said: ‘No one knew who, if anyone, had been shot as all had been asleep. It was only when the other two were dragged from the car seconds later, they realised Jermaine had been shot.
‘It is said no one moved, no one threatened the police, no one knew they were being targeted by police, all were asleep at the time.’
In potentially inflammatory comments, Jasper added: ‘ London is teetering on the edge of another riot.’ It was a chilling reference to the violence and looting that followed the Met’s shooting of gang leader Mark Duggan in 2011.
Investigators do have evidence that some of the men in the car with Baker were sleeping or dozing shortly before the 9am confrontation.
One of them was overheard saying ‘I am asleep’ during conversations between those in the car and one of the prisoners who was using a smuggled phone.
It is believed the Met had put a bug in the car or was monitoring the phone line. Last night, friend Yusef Bryan-Scott, 17, said he too had heard Baker may have been asleep. He added: ‘I think they shot him for no reason. Is it true he was just asleep in his car? That’s what I heard.’
The circumstances of the shooting are shrouded in secrecy amid a probe by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The watchdog is treating it as a potential ‘homicide’ but has refused to explain why.
In an unusual move, the unnamed officer, from Scotland Yard’s elite specialist firearms command, faces being sus- pended from duty. The Met added to the pressure on the IPCC to carry out its investigation ‘as quickly as possible’ to uncover the facts.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Terry said: ‘Speculation and rumour will only serve to undermine that investigation and community confidence in the Met. All of the officers involved continue to receive our fullest possible support.’