Chris Kaba’s family welcomes the Met firearms officer’s suspension but says there is “no urgency”.
Image source, Kaba familyThe firearms officer who shot dead Chris Kaba in south London should have been suspended from duty much sooner, the victim’s family says.
The officer fired a single shot at the 24-year-old rapper, who was unarmed, in Streatham Hill on 5 September.
Mr Kaba’s family welcomed the suspension, announced by the Met on Monday, but said there was “no urgency” around the investigation.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has opened a homicide inquiry.
The Met Police said in its statement on Monday the firearms officer had been suspended due to the “significant impact on public confidence”, but its decision did “not determine the outcome of the IOPC investigation”.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Kaba’s cousin Jefferson Bosela said the Met Police should have suspended the officer as soon as the homicide investigation was launched by the IOPC, which was announced on 9 September.
Mr Bosela, the family’s spokesman, said: “We welcome that decision [suspension] but, to be honest, I think the second a criminal investigation was opened he should have been suspended from there.
Demanding police footage
“You know, first we wanted a criminal investigation opened and that took four days, and then the officer being suspended took another two days.
“So it seems like there’s no urgency in their dealings with this quite tragic matter.”
Mr Kaba, who was due to become a father, was stopped by firearms officers when his car was flagged by a number plate recognition camera.
Mr Bosela added the family wanted to know if police officers believed they were stopping the suspected owner of the car or Mr Kaba, who the family says was not the registered owner.
The family is also demanding the IOPC releases police-worn camera footage of the shooting and aerial helicopter footage, as well as a timeline for the investigation.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Streatham, who is supporting the Kaba family, said: “The Met have finally suspended the officer who fired the shot that killed Chris Kaba.
“It shouldn’t have taken public pressure to make this happen.
“Time to honour the family’s further demands without delay.”
News of the officer’s suspension on Monday came as Mr Kaba’s family and friends joined members of the local community at a candlelit vigil, in the residential street where he was fatally shot, to mark one week since his death.
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