2 suspects freed after police kill ex-soldier
POLICE yesterday defended a raid on a house in which a former soldier was shot dead as they freed two drug suspects.
Army veteran Sean Fitzgerald, 31, died when gun police swooped on the house on Friday evening.
Neighbours told how they heard up to five shots after officers set off a ‘flashbang’ grenade.
Assistant Chief Constable Sue Southern said the raid in Coventry was an ‘intelligence-led operation’ that followed a ‘long-running criminal investigation’. She would not explain further.
The Independent office for Police Conduct would not comment on whether a non-police firearm had been recovered. Friends of Mr Fitzgerald suggested he was shot in the back as police executed a warrant but the IOPC said it had seen no evidence from body-worn police cameras to support the claim.
Police said two men aged 26 held on suspicion of cannabis production had been freed. one was bailed and the other ‘released under investigation’.
resident Mark Henney, 25, said of the swoop: ‘There was a loud bang. I saw them pull a man out on a stretcher and perform first aid on him.’ Another neighbour said: ‘Sean was a nice man. It’s shocking if he was shot over some cannabis – it doesn’t make sense.’
Mr Fitzgerald’s late father, also Sean, was a former professional boxer who sparred with ex-world champion Barry McGuigan.