A man shot dead by armed officers at Milton Keynes railway station has been named by the police watchdog as 38-year-old David Joyce.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which has launched an investigation into the incident, said body-worn footage and CCTV showed Joyce run towards officers with a knife in his hand just outside the station entrance at 1.04pm.
The watchdog said it had established that Joyce, from Milton Keynes, was killed by one shot fired at close range.
Thames Valley police said on Monday they were called to reports of a man carrying a firearm at the station on Elder Gate at 12.55pm, and when officers responded they “challenged a white man who was carrying a knife outside the station”.
The IOPC director, Derrick Campbell, said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of this man and all of those affected by this tragic incident.
“Given a man has died after being shot by police, our role is to independently investigate all of the circumstances surrounding this incident including the actions and decisions taken by the police.
“We appreciate that this incident outside a busy train station will understandably cause concern. We know the community will want answers quickly and our investigators are working hard to establish the facts as we piece together what happened and how.
“We have obtained details of some members of the public who witnessed the incident who we will be contacting, however we know there were many people near the station around the time of the shooting and we want to hear from anyone who may have seen the incident or has footage of it.
“We have contacted the man’s family and will meet with them soon to explain our role. We will keep them regularly updated throughout our investigation.”
The provisional cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, the IOPC said. The officers involved provided their initial accounts of the incident to the watchdog and all officers who attended the scene were being treated as witnesses.
People in the flats above Milton Keynes Central station reported hearing a single loud noise before a large police and ambulance presence arrived on Tuesday. Alan Brockbank, 70, said: “All I heard sounded like something heavy had been dropped, it didn’t sound like a shot or anything.”
A large police presence attended about 10 minutes later, he said, adding: “Then, of course, they were all around the front of the building, actually we could see the person lying on the floor and they were trying to resuscitate him.”
He saw a man receiving CPR chest compressions who was partly obscured by the awning at the station exit.
Another man who lives in the flats, but did not want to be identified, said he immediately thought it was a gunshot “because it was really loud”.
Source: theguardian.com
