A police officer describes “locking eyes” with a knife-wielding terrorist before shooting him dead.
A police officer who shot dead a convicted terrorist on a south London street has described the moment he “immediately feared for his life”.
Sudesh Amman, 20, ran towards one of the armed surveillance officers with a knife after stabbing two people on Streatham High Road last February.
Officer BX75, whose identity is being protected, said the pair “locked eyes”.
“I thought he was going to stab me and kill me or certainly seriously injure me,” the Royal Courts of Justice heard.
The inquest heard BX75 was part of a nine man surveillance team following Amman, who had been released from prison 10 days earlier.
Holding his Glock pistol in both hands, BX75 described the moments outside Boots before he decided to shoot Amman, who was holding “a large butcher’s knife”, in the chest.
image sourceMet Police
He said: “I saw him, he saw me – I am 100% confident we locked eyes.
“It was my immediate assessment – I was making my way as fast as possible towards him, him towards me – the point of impact was very, very soon.
“He was in my immediate personal space. His action was always going to beat my reaction, if I let him beat my next move.”
Amman did not react to being shot for the second time, by BX75’s colleague BX87, the inquest heard.
He fell to the ground after being shot again by BX75 and was later pronounced dead.
BX87 told the inquest he witnessed Amman “plunge” a knife into the upper back of a woman wearing a bright pink jacket.
Although he thought the stab wound would be fatal, the woman and another victim survived.
BX87 appeared to break down as he described his final confrontation with Amman from behind a screen at the Royal Courts of Justice.
He said: “As I tried to slow myself my vision almost was like a cartoon – the blade of the knife almost doubled in size.
“It was a strange feeling. His body was forward. It was pretty clear to me he was intent on attacking me or further members of the public.”
image sourceMet Police
He added: “I saw Mr Amman take a number of paces towards me, closing the gap further.
“It really dawned on me at this point that I was going to get stabbed.”
The inquest previously heard there had been concerns about the 20-year-old’s imminent release from HMP Belmarsh on 23 January 2020, part-way through a 40-month sentence for preparing and engaging in acts of terrorism.
However, the request was turned down by the governor because the offence Amman was jailed for could not justify an extension of his sentence.
image sourcePA Media
Jurors have also heard that both the police and MI5 decided against arresting Amman two days before the Streatham attack.
He was spotted buying items later used to fashion a fake suicide belt but the Probation Service was “satisfied” the purchases had not breached any licence conditions.
The inquest continues.
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