Police feared 'volatile' confrontation before Brighton shooting (From The Argus)

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Police feared 'volatile' confrontation before Brighton shooting

2:10pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 in News By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter

Police at the scene last February

Quick thinking police officers had to change their tactics to try to prevent an armed man becoming a danger to the public.

Plain clothed Sussex Police armed response officers shot robbery suspect Michael Fitzpatrick in the chest and abdomen in Rock Place, Kemp Town, after fearing their cover had been blown.

An inquest into Mr Fitzpatrick’s death was told that police feared he was a danger to the public and police officers.

The tactical firearms commander responsible for the operation to try to arrest Mr Fitzpatrick told the inquest jury in Brighton they feared their target could be carrying a gun and was likely to be “volatile” if confronted.

After hearing Mr Fitzpatrick could be on his way to the Sidewinder pub in St James’s Street, two teams of armed officers intended to try to arrest him.

But officers had to make a last minute change of plan and only one team of officers felt forced to try to stop Mr Fitzpatrick on February 10 last year.

Coroner’s officer Penny Bailey told the inquest that Mr Fitzpatrick had pulled the firearm on the officers who tried to arrest him.

Three armed officers confronted him and Mr Fitzpatrick was shot twice and killed.

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Mr Fitzpatrick was wanted in connection with three armed robberies in Burgess Hill and was being linked to a string of others in Hove.

The tactical firearms commander, a chief inspector who can only be identified as C14, said Mr Fitzpatrick was considered to be even more dangerous because he had been previously convicted of an armed robbery where a victim was taken hostage, had been convicted of conspiracy to murder and had been arrested but not charged over a shooting.

Confrontation

Officer C14 said: “We wanted to find him en route, because going into a public house to try and confront him was going to be a lot more difficult."

C14 said he had just arrived at John Street police station when he heard his team saying they had located Mr Fitzpatrick through the radio.

He said the next transmission was “Shots fired. Shots fired.”

When he arrived at the scene a few minutes later, paramedics were in the process of putting Mr Fitzpatrick into an ambulance and one of the armed officers was standing guard.

Armed officers had visited several addresses linked to Mr Fitzpatrick in the week leading up to his death. They had also tried to track him down via pharmacies where he may have been trying to get prescriptions for HIV medication.

The inquest continues.

Read more on this story in the two-page special report inside today's Argus.

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Comments(20)

davyboy says...
5:46pm Tue 31 Jan 12

if he pulled a firearm, and was thought to be dangerous, then the police did their jobs correctly. you cannot have armed people running round the streets. ok, he MAY not have used it, but had a history of armed robbery, so the police could not take a chance.