Nor did he wear a heavy coat, according to his relatives:
Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead in the head, was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police, his cousin said yesterday.
Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Metropolitan police, Vivien Figueiredo, 22, said that the first reports of how her 27-year-old cousin had come to be killed in mistake for a suicide bomber on Friday at Stockwell tube station were wrong.
“He used a travel card,” she said. “He had no bulky jacket, he was wearing a jeans jacket. But even if he was wearing a bulky jacket that wouldn’t be an excuse to kill him.”
Ever since I first read this yesterday, I’ve been thinking about it. Imagine, you’re going to work, walking from your home to the bus, getting off at your local Underground station, use your travelcard to get into the station, you board the train that takes you to work –and all of a sudden you are grabbed from behind, thrown to the ground and before you even realise what the hell is going on, you are shot in the head. Seven times.
Not a nice way to day for poor Jean Charles de Menezes.
In the meantime, for all those who like to play blame the victim, the only thing left is that Menezes had overstayed his visa –if that’s an offense punisble by death, quite a lost of Ozzies in London must be feeling paranoid by now.
But what about his killer? He was sent on a well deserved holiday.
His superiors meanwhile are still in denial about the morality and necessity of this police, which so far hasn’t stopped any suicide bombers, is unlikely to stop any suicide bombers but did murder an innocent man for the crime of erm, not looking at all like a suicide bomber. In fact, police now say that they need not even give a verbal warning before they execute another “suicide bomber” like Menezes….