No training can prepare marksmen for extreme stress

POLICE marksmen will inevitably face further questions today over the final moments in the Tube carriage which led to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

A jury today rejected the account of firearms officer Charlie 12 that he shouted "armed police" before opening fire. His account was questioned by Tube passengers - and even his colleague Charlie 2 - none of whom heard the challenge.

The irony is that if either marksman believed, as they did, that Mr de Menezes was a suicide bomber about to detonate a device, shouting a warning to him was the last thing they should have done.

Officers facing the threat of a suicide bomber are trained to shoot first to "incapacitate" - in fact kill - and not ask questions or shout warnings. Police colleagues say that it is more likely that Charlie 12 genuinely believed he shouted "armed police"- or meant to - but under the extraordinary stress of the moment he did not.

Analysis of how marksmen react under the stress of facing a threat from a gun or a knife shows the body shuts down many senses, such as hearing, and the mind distorts what actually happens. It focuses on the immediate visual threat - and no amount of training can prevent it.

A colleague of Charlie 12 said: "It is so ingrained in you to normally shout 'armed police' that maybe he was about to say it or he meant to say it to the extent that he really believed he had done so. In fact, in this situation he should not have shouted a warning and he gained nothing by saying that he did."