LONDON: A British police officer was shot dead early on Friday morning by a man believed to have then turned the gun on himself, Scotland Yard said, the first officer to be killed by gunfire while on duty in over eight years.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service launched a murder investigation following the shooting by a 23-year-old suspect being detained at Croydon Custody Centre in the south of the British capital at around 2:15am.

Media reports suggested that the suspect may not have been fully searched prior to entering the facility.

The officer, said to be “a long-serving sergeant”, was taken by an air ambulance to a south London hospital where medical staff “did everything they could to save his life”, the force’s Commissioner Cressida Dick said in a statement.

The suspect was also taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remains in a critical condition, she added. The Met said no police firearms were discharged during the incident.

“Early indications are that the suspect shot himself,” Dick said, but noted “this has not yet been established as fact.” British police are not routinely armed, although forces have tactical firearms units to respond quickly to incidents. Deaths in service are also rare.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2020