Care in the community - Police kill mentally ill man

[TonyGosling]

Cathedral death man was carrying imitation firearm

Published Date: 05 December 2008
A man shot dead by by police on the steps of Guildford Cathedral was carrying an imitation firearm, police said.



David Sycamore, 39, was hit in the chest and arm by police bullets after an armed response unit was called to the Surrey cathedral to respond to reports of a man roaming the grounds with a gun.

An interim report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission has found that the weapon depression sufferer Mr Sycamore was carrying was an imitation pistol loaded with blank ammunition.

Mr Sycamore, who lived less than two miles away, was shot dead at around 3pm on Sunday at the cathedral, which was used in the filming of the 1976 classic horror film The Omen.

Paramedics were called and tried to resuscitate him but he died at the scene. His weapon was later recovered nearby, police said.

A post-mortem examination concluded that Mr Sycamore died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Four firearms officers have been taken off operational firearms duties but have not been suspended.

An initial examination of the gun Mr Sycamore was carrying, by scientists who attended the scene, indicates it was a blank-firing 8mm self-loading pistol, the design of which is based on the Glock.

These weapons can be converted to fire live ammunition although it is not believed this one had been. The IPCC said there was nothing at this stage to suggest that the gun, which was loaded with blanks, had been fired during the incident.

Mr Sycamore, who suffered from manic depression, was described in a statement by his family as "loving and caring young man" whose intentions "were never to harm anybody". They said: "David found solace in the grounds of the cathedral and said it brought him inner peace and closer to God."

[fish5133]

[Disco_Destroyer]

[TonyGosling]

Two years ago I dialled Avon and Somerset police on 999 here in Bristol because two teenagers were engaged in what I now guess was a mock battle with what looked like real guns right next to one of the city's well known drug dens.

I explained I didn't know whether the guns were real or not but that several people, one of them an elderly woman, were clearly afraid enough to turn back along the pavement and chose an alternative route.

Police response - zero.

[fish5133]

[TonyGosling]

Well yes.
But it does seem a little arbitrary doesn't it. Heads you live tails you die.
These firearms officers should be screened to see that they don't get a headrush from killing people.

[wordskills]

Sounds a bit fishy, but realistically why was this poor guy carrying an imitation gun to begin with? Also with the gun being "nearby" sounds a bit odd, surely your life would have to be put at risk before you go shooting someone, and what happened to shoot to disable?